


A Mother's Worry

by stingrae90



Category: Digimon Frontier
Genre: Gen, Reuniting the Family, Surprises
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-05
Updated: 2012-08-05
Packaged: 2017-11-11 11:31:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 45,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/478086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stingrae90/pseuds/stingrae90
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kimura Tomoko worried. It was in her nature, and with only one of her beloved twins to cherish and guide through life, it was her constant fear that something terrible would happen to break up their small family. And then the call came...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Small Emergency

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on fanfiction, and still ongoing. This started as a one-shot solely intended to get the idea OUT of my head. It turned into a 14-and-counting chapter story that just seems to keep growing. Hope you enjoy.

"Tomoko-chan!"

Blinking, Tomoko looked up from her computer screen with slightly bleary eyes. She had been inputting patient info into the hospital's computers for nearly ten hours now, covering for a friend and manning the phones that were her technical responsibility at the same time. As a consequence, she was starting to feel the strain. She would need to take a break soon, or she'd make a mistake with someone's information and that could be disastrous.

And her back was starting to twinge again, which meant she'd have to attend to _that_ soon as well…

"Tomoko-chan!"

Tomoko shook herself and half-way rose out of her seat. "Yes, Ayumi-chan? What's wrong?" she asked, curious. Ayumi was a good friend and a very level-headed woman. It was what made her such a good trauma nurse. She rarely sounded as flustered as she did now. Something out of the ordinary must have happened.

"You have to go to now, Tomoko-chan! They just called in! Oh, I'm so sorry-"

"Go where?" Tomoko interrupted, feeling her heart constrict. She wasn't a nurse, the only time she would be drafted to help in a medical fashion was during a state of emergency, and nothing nearly so dire had occurred. She knew that for a fact. "Ayumi-chan, you aren't making sense."

Ayumi drew a deep breath, reweaving her tattered calm. "I was just in Akiyama-san's office and when the phone rang, I answered it, to take a message," she said, still sounding slightly panicky, but under control. "Akiyama-san's been so busy he always misses it when his wife calls and I thought it would be nice for her to leave a message with a person instead of the answering machine for once…" Ayumi shook her head vigorously, forcibly bringing her attention back to the point. "But it wasn't his wife. It was one of the nurses from the emergency care center at Shibuya Station."

" _I'm going to go out for a while today, Mom. There's this new book store over in Shibuya I wanted to check out."_

Tomoko felt the blood drain from her face. Ayumi looked at her with sad eyes. "It's Kouichi-kun, Tomoko-chan. He's…he's in the care center. They said he fell down the stairs and struck his head. He's awake now, but the doctor still needs you to come down. I'll take the rest of your shift, Tomoko-chan, you go to your son and-"

Tomoko didn't hear the rest. Her son needed her and her shift was covered for. She was leaving the hospital barely five minutes later, already working out the fastest route to Shibuya and its emergency care center.

* * *

"Ma'am, can I help you?"

"Yes. My name is Kimura Tomoko, I'm here about my son, Kouichi-"

"He's in room 22, ma'am. Dr. Wakahisa is waiting for you."

"Thank you."

And she was making her way to her son's room as quickly as she could. Ayumi-chan had said Kouichi was awake, but there was so much that could still be wrong. Head injuries were always delicate work. Ayumi-chan _hated_ head injuries exactly because of the myriad of complications that could arise…

* * *

Wakahisa Akira passed the penlight once more in front of the young boy's eyes and critically examined the way his pupils shifted to accommodate the bright light.

"Hmm…well, young man, despite that impressive tumble down the stairs and the trouble you gave us earlier, you seem remarkably well-recovered."

"I must not have hit my head as hard as everyone thought," Kouichi murmured quietly, holding still as the doctor felt gently around the bruised area behind Kouichi's left ear, where he had struck one of the stairs on the way down. It hurt, but wincing would only make it hurt more.

"Your heart _stopped_ for a moment, Kouichi-kun. And it doesn't matter that you are relatively fine now. Your body is still in shock. You still have a concussion. You are going to _rest_ for the next week or so. No more marathon runs around train stations because you're late to meet your brother. Being late is far preferable to never arriving at all."

"Yes, Dr. Wakahisa," Kouichi conceded quietly, before worry tinted his still slightly unfocused gaze. "You're not going to tell Mom that I-"

"Planned a surprise for her that turned out rather badly?" Akira commented acidly, and immediately regretted it as the young boy flinched at his tone. Scrubbing a hand over his face, Akira sighed. "No, I won't tell your mother just _why_ you were being an idiot and running down several flights of stairs far more quickly than you ought to have. I don't agree with you, but I understand you want to surprise your mother. Just…wait until you've recovered, Kouichi-kun. Your mother doesn't need any more shocks today."

"I'll wait, Dr. Wakahisa. Thank you."

"If you need something, press that button to your right. Even if you just need to use the restroom. I don't want you getting up by yourself until I'm sure you won't fall in the attempt."

Leaving behind a slightly put out patient, Akira exited room 22 and nearly collided with a pale-faced woman who bore a strong resemblance to the boy he had just left behind.

"Kimura-san, I presume?" A slightly flustered looked greeted him and Akira felt a brief stab of pity for this woman who obviously didn't need any more stress in her life.

"Yes…Dr. Wakahisa?" She barely waited for his confirming nod before trying to politely push past him into the room. "Please, is Kouichi…is he…?"

Placing one calming – and restraining – hand on her shoulder, Akira nodded reassuringly. "Yes, Kouichi-kun is fine now. He'll need to be careful for the next week or so. No strenuous activity at all, and I'll give you a list of complications and symptoms that could arise, but he's awake and coherent."

The mother slumped in relief and Akira patiently waited her out, still standing in front of the door to Kouichi-kun's room. It was sometimes hard to deal with the reactions of parents who had their children involved in serious accidents, but he far preferred this limp-boned relief to the _other_ reaction that could just as easily have occurred. Kouichi-kun had almost died, after all.

"Can I see him?"

"In a moment, Kimura-san. I have a few forms you need to sign…" Seeing the crestfallen look on the woman's face made Akira pause, and reconsider his approach. There really was no reason he couldn't let her in now. Kouichi-kun was out of immediate danger and he would have to retrieve the forms for Kimura-san to sign anyway. Shaking his head, he stepped out of the doorway and gestured the woman through with a slight and respectful bow. "It can wait. Go see your son, Kimura-san. I shall return in a few minutes with the forms."

"Thank you," Kimura Tomoko breathed out, bowing low in gratitude, before she vanished behind the door.

Akira smiled and strolled slowly down the corridor. For once, he'd let proper procedure occur slightly out of order. It wouldn't harm anyone, and would very likely give that poor woman some relief.

Briefly, he considered backtracking and listening outside the door to room number 22. He really was curious about what Kouichi-kun would tell his mother in explanation for his unexpected visit to the emergency care center. Akira knew enough to know he hadn't been told everything either, and wondered what the boy would tell his mother without other ears to hear.

" _My parents divorced when I was a little kid, Dr. Wakahisa. Kouji and I didn't even know we were twins until recently. I promised to introduce Kouji to Mom and we were going to meet today. I wanted it to be a surprise…"_

" _I knew Kouichi missed the connection to get him to our meeting point, but it was taking too long for him to show up," Kouji put in, standing firmly by his brother's bedside. "I went looking for him."_

" _And your friends?" Akira asked sardonically._

" _We were worried too," the youngest boy piped up. Tomoki, wasn't it? "So we helped Kouji look!"_

_The boy with the goggles spoke up then. "We all came cause we wanted to help Kouji and Kouichi. And make the surprise special for Kouichi's…their mom."_

" _Please, Dr. Wakahisa, can't you keep the secret?" The only girl in the group implored him with wide green eyes. Sighing, Akira shook his head slowly. He knew there was a lie somewhere in what they were telling him – or rather, what they weren't – but he was too tired from the stress of trying to keep Kouichi-kun breathing to figure it out. And he understood the pull of planning surprises and keeping good secrets._

" _The five of you had better make yourselves scarce if you don't want Kimura-san to see you," he said firmly, ignoring the looks he received from the five healthy children. "I need to examine Kouichi-kun again, and you can't be in here for that."_

" _But-" Kouji started. Akira fixed him with a stern look._

" _I make no promises, young man. But I am a doctor, not a disciplinarian. What you tell your parents about what you were up to today is not my business."_

And it truly wasn't, Akira knew as he brought his wandering attention back to the present. He was a doctor, nothing more and nothing less, and it was enough that the young boy had made it, despite all early indications that he would not pull through. He didn't need to know every detail of his patients' lives. Just enough to help them heal.

And having something positive to look forward to helped the healing process just as much as rest and medication did.

The revelation of a secret like this one would negate a mother's worry soon, and that was well worth his silence.


	2. Opening Moves

"Look out! She's coming back this way!"

"Move, goggle-head!"

"I would if Junpei would get out of the way!"

"Ow! That was my foot!"

"Boys! Quiet!"

There was some subdued muttering as the five children finally managed to arrange themselves into a mostly innocuous grouping, with Izumi and Tomoki in the front. The girl was pretending to examine the younger boy's stomped foot, while Takuya was rubbing the back of his head embarrassedly and Junpei rooted around in his pockets for some unknown item. Kouji seemed to have disappeared entirely. As Kouji and Kouichi's mother passed them with Dr. Wakahisa, Izumi looked up and unexpectedly met the woman's eyes. Startled, she still managed to work up a smile that didn't feel _too_ forced and received a wan one in return.

Then she was gone. Izumi breathed a sigh of relief and the boys slumped in relief. At least until...

"I'd like to be able to move sometime in the next five seconds if either of you two idiots would _get off me!"_

The irate voice issued from behind Takuya and Junpei, who both flushed beet red and jumped away at the same moment. A rather squashed looking Kouji emerged, irately straightening his clothing.

"Sorry, man," Junpei said. "It got kind of hard to move for a minute…"

"Yeah," Takuya laughed slightly. "I think we all tried to go the same direction and then tripped all over each other!"

"We've spent _weeks_ fighting in the Digital World and you choose the moment we get back to forget how to walk without running into other people?"

"Kouji, calm down," Izumi said. "It's no one's fault. We thought Kimura-san would be with Kouichi for longer than that. We were all startled."

"Yeah, well," Kouji muttered, a faint blush staining his cheeks. "That doesn't mean I like getting slammed into the wall."

"Do you think we can see Kouichi too, now?" Tomoki asked innocently, glancing down the way the twins' mother and Dr. Wakahisa had gone and then in the direction of Kouichi's room. The older children exchanged speculative looks.

"Does anyone know where Kouichi lives?" Takuya asked. Three blank looks and one slightly embarrassed one answered him.

"I…never asked," Kouji said quietly, seeming ashamed of himself. "I know he knows where _I_ live, but…I don't know where he does."

"And none of us have exactly exchanged cell numbers either," Junpei said, digging in his pocket to produce his newly restored cell phone. The other children fingered their own phones as well, half-expecting to feel the familiar contours of the D-Tectors.

"Alright then," Takuya said suddenly, snatching his own phone out of his pocket and waving it a bit for emphasis. "Kouji can go get Kouichi's number and address and all of that stuff, we'll do the same out here for each other, and watch for Kimura-san and Dr. Wakahisa, so they don't catch Kouji in there. Izumi and Tomoki can take one end of the hall and Junpei and I can cover the other. Sound like a plan?"

Three nods answered him. Kouji just smirked as he stalked towards his brother's room, his own cell phone in hand. The other children quickly split off to their assigned sentry posts, quietly exchanging numbers as they went.

* * *

Kouichi sighed as he stared at the ceiling, already bored and a little worried.

He was bored because there wasn't anything to do, and while he really wanted to look in the mirror and see just how badly he'd banged his head coming down the stairs, he wasn't allowed to get up without a nurse or his mother present and he _wasn't_ going to push that stupid button. He was hardly a helpless little boy. But he'd promised Dr. Wakahisa _and_ his mother, so in bed he stayed.

He was worried because he had belatedly realized that while he knew where Kouji lived, and could probably find his phone number without much trouble – surely it was somewhere in the information he'd collected while he searched for Kouji – how exactly was he supposed to explain himself if someone other than his twin answered the phone?

Especially if his father answered.

Kouichi was tempted to shake his head to dispel that thought, but refrained, knowing it would just make the pounding in his head worse.

" _Um…hi. This is Kouichi…I'm your son, the one who went with Mom while you kept Kouji? After the divorce? Um…Grandma told me I had a twin just before she died and I looked around and found Kouji…mind if I talk to him?"_

Oh yes, that wouldn't be awkward _at all._ Kouichi sighed, rolling his eyes at his own sarcastic monologue. Well, there was no help for it. Dr. Wakahisa had chased Kouji and the others out and they would have to have left by now. Kouji was the only one who really had the right to wait for him here, and neither one of them was supposed to know that. The others would have been made to go home by now if they had been caught hanging around by any of the staff…

"Kouichi?"

The elder twin's gaze snapped from the ceiling to the doorway so fast he was briefly dizzy, but as soon as his eyes focused, he saw Kouji peering in at him.

"Kouji! I thought Dr. Wakahisa made you leave…" he petered off as Kouji came farther into the room, closing the door carefully after himself.

"He kicked us out of your room, but we only went around the corner," he said as he reached Kouichi's bedside, laying a friendly hand on his brother's shoulder. The quiet worry still lurking in the younger's eyes betrayed the seemingly casual motion. Kouji was still shaken from seeing Kouichi 'die'. Kouichi smiled and reached a hand up to place firmly over the younger twin's own.

"Thanks," he was all he said aloud.

Kouji smiled at him. "We don't have much time. Dr. Wakahisa took….our mom somewhere, we don't know how long it'll be before she's back-"

"She has to sign my release papers and the insurance forms," Kouichi filled in. "Dr. Wakahisa said it would take maybe ten minutes."

"Takuya and Junpei are watching the far end of the hallway and Izumi and Tomoki have the closer end, so they'll warn us if they come back before then," Kouji replied in kind. Kouichi nodded. "Right now, we need to make sure we can still contact each other, after we go home today." A slight smile crossed Kouji's features, while a slightly teasing light entered his eyes. "I know you know where _I_ live, and probably have my number too. But I don't know that same information for you."

Kouichi laughed softly, afraid to do so any harder in case it made his head throb anymore. "I might have your number. I don't know. I was more focused on _finding_ you, not calling you. Do you have paper or something? I can write down my number and address…"

"No. But I can use my cell phone to store the information,"

"Oh," Kouichi blinked. He hadn't really thought of that. He supposed it made sense for his brother to have his own cell phone - their father was much better off financially than Kouichi and his mother were - but that fact had slipped Kouichi's mind in the last few weeks as he had helped his brother and his friends battle Lucemon and the Royal Knights.

"Lady Ophanimon turned our cell phones into the D-tectors when we first got to the Digital World," Kouji offered, seeing the slight confusion on his twin's face. "Your D-tector came out of mine, so…you don't have one?"

"No," Kouichi said, slightly surprised and very pleased to find that he felt no jealous anger over that lack. What he had told Kouji in Sakkakumon was true. He and Mom had all they needed. "We've never had enough funds to get one."

"Oh." Now Kouji looked vaguely uncomfortable. His hand fell from his twin's shoulder. Kouichi let it drop, but lifted his hand to grab Kouji's shoulder, half-levering himself into a sitting position as he did so. The elder twin ignored the increased pounding in his head at the change in elevation and stared intently at his brother.

"Do _not_ be ashamed of what you have. You're lucky, Kouji. And Mom and I have all we need to get by. I can use the pay phones and Mom can use the ones at the hospital for free. We get along just fine without cell phones."

"Kouichi, should you be sitting up like that…?" Kouji seemed to have ignored his little lecture, firmly forcing his brother back down on the bed. Kouichi let him, but did not relinquish his grip or his stern gaze. Kouji avoided his eyes for a moment, staring at the bed as he tugged at the sheets that had been bunched by Kouichi's sudden movement back into order. Kouichi gentled his grip, causing Kouji to look up, face carefully blank.

"Kouji, do you remember telling me that you always knew when I was troubled? Or hurt? Because I'm your brother, your twin, and so we're connected?" Kouji nodded. Kouichi grinned, rather reminiscent of Takuya for a moment. "It works both ways, you know. I'm not just _your_ twin. _You_ are _my_ brother, _my_ twin, too. So I know when you're hiding something from me."

Kouji blinked, startled, and then snorted a laugh. "It's not really fair to use my own words against me, you know."

"Who ever said older brothers had to be fair?"

Laughter reigned for a few moments, before Kouji sighed and gave in. "I just…I can't help but think of how things might have been different, if Dad and…our mother never got divorced. If we had grown up together."

"But we can't know that. And wondering just makes it worse," Kouichi ended in a whisper, his eyes shadowed by the memories of his early actions in the Digital World – memories of Cherubimon, and Duskmon, and Velgemon.

Shaking the memories off, Kouichi tilted his head every so slightly to the side, "So…number and address?" he prompted his brother. Kouji shook his head briefly, sending this short pony-tail flapping, and reached for his phone.

The next few minutes were spent entering Kouichi's home number and address into Kouji's phone, and rummaging in the small side table for paper and pen so Kouji could reciprocate the same information for his brother. Kouichi took the small torn off corner of paper and tucked it into his pocket, just as Izumi poked her head in the door.

"Boys!" she hissed. "Hurry up! Dr. Wakahisa is bringing Kimura-san back. They'll be here any second!"

Kouichi and Kouji had both jumped, startled, at Izumi's unexpected appearance. Unfortunately, this caused Kouichi to jar his head against the headboard of the bed and he hissed through clenched teeth as the pounding in his head got worse and his eyes briefly crossed and lost focus.

"Kouichi?"

The startled chorus came from both brother and friend and Kouichi waved them off with one hand, while the other held the back of his head.

"I'll be fine. I missed the bump from the fall down the stairs. I just made my headache worse, is all." As his vision cleared, he managed a smile for the worried blue and green gazes directed his way.

Blue and green were unconvinced. Kouichi forced his hand away from his head and glanced over to Izumi. "Didn't you say Mom and Dr. Wakahisa were coming back…?" he prompted. Izumi nodded frantically, blonde hair flying. Kouichi smiled at Kouji. "Go on then. I promised Dr. Wakahisa I wouldn't reveal Mom's 'surprise' before I recovered. I'll call you tomorrow after Mom goes to work, okay?"

"…alright," Kouji agreed, a bit sullenly. "Tomorrow."

Izumi smiled at Kouichi and vanished out the door with a "Get well soon, Kouichi-kun!" Kouji followed at a slower pace. He looked back once as he reached the door and Kouichi managed to produce another smile for his twin.

"Be careful, Kouichi," he said quietly. Kouichi nodded silently. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

As soon as Kouji left, Kouichi allowed himself to grimace in pain once more. "Ow…" he whispered, fingering the throbbing area on the back of his head. He hadn't realized his movements had taken him so close to the head of the bed.

Maybe Dr. Wakahisa had been right about not getting up without someone there to help him do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll edit out the mini-rant I originally included in my fanfic posting of this chapter. Suffice to say, any further mentions of the technicalities of the divorce/child custody will have to be taken with a grain of salt, as search engines fail EPICALLY. With much epicness. See my original post for full ranting. *grins*
> 
> Also, no chapter estimates this time. I'm already at twice my original estimate, and I'm still not done...


	3. A Little Bit of Acting

"Are you ready, Kouichi?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"Count of three, then." A brief pause followed as all of the involved persons situated themselves and then, "One. Two. _Three."_

Several dizzying moments later, Kouichi was ensconced in a wheelchair, pale-faced and with a headache trying to outdo the one he'd acquired banging his head on the headboard, Dr. Wakahisa was giving last minute instructions to his mother and Kimura Tomoko was absently gripping her son's shoulder, as though to reassure herself that she had _not_ lost her son, no matter how close that outcome had been just an hour before.

 _And maybe really did happen, for a little bit,_ Kouichi knew, uneasy. Why else would he have been a spirit in the Digital World? And how was he supposed to explain the fact he had travelled that other world for _weeks_ , but when he had been transferred to this recovery room, the clock had read maybe twenty minutes past the time he had bolted down the stairs after Kouji?

So much didn't make sense. And trying to make sense out of it was just making his head hurt worse.

So he stopped and started listening to what Dr. Wakahisa was telling his mother.

"…not true it's medically imprudent for concussion victims to sleep afterwards. But it is wise to wake him every couple hours or so and make sure he's still coherent. I'm sure you know what type of questions to ask, Kimura-san, working in a hospital as you do-"

"I do, Dr. Wakahisa. His name, where he lives, what year it is…"

"Exactly. I really would prefer to keep Kouichi-kun overnight for observation, but we simply don't have the space or manpower here to do so. I've given you my card, please call me if anything unexpected happens tonight or tomorrow. Once the first twenty-four hours have passed, all that's needed is rest."

"I can't thank you enough, Dr. Wakahisa, for saving my son." His mother's hand tightened on Kouichi's shoulder, and the young boy reached up to squeeze his mother's hand, heart aching.

_I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to worry you or scare you. And I've done both._

"You don't need to thank me, Kimura-san. I'm simply glad your son is still with you."

Kouichi nearly choked. Apparently Dr. Wakahisa was still annoyed at him. Mom didn't catch any undertones in the doctor's reply, but Kouichi did, and knew they were meant as a warning for him.

 _Why you're alive right now, I don't know. Medical reason says you ought to be dead. But you're not, so follow my directions and_ stay that way.

As his mother got behind him to push the wheelchair, Kouichi nodded very slightly at the doctor, and mouthed "a week."

Dr. Wakahisa graced him with a tight smile and held the door for the mother and son. "I'll call you a taxi, Kimura-san. Kouichi-kun shouldn't be riding mass transportation at the moment."

"Oh, really, it's not necessary-"

"I insist. The care center has a special fund for times like this. It won't be a problem."

"I…well, for Kouichi's sake then. Thank you."

 _I'm going to make this worth it, Mom,_ Kouichi vowed silently, as his mother and Dr. Wakahisa continued talking while they wheeled him to the exit. _We lost Grandma, but we can get Kouji back. You can love_ both _of your sons soon. Just a week._

* * *

"How exactly are we supposed to give him this?" Takuya waved the paper he was holding in frustration, and Kouji ducked out of pure reflex. Takuya continued as if he hadn't almost just punched Kouji in the head by accident. "I mean, it'll look a little weird if one of us just runs up to them, hands Kouichi a paper with a bunch of numbers and addresses on it, says "Have a nice day, get well soon!" and runs off!"

"We don't have much time before it'll be too late to get it to him," Izumi reported, keeping watch on loading area where Kouichi, his mother and Dr. Wakahisa were waiting for what Junpei had decided was a taxi. After all, Kouichi couldn't really ride in the subways or trains with a wheelchair and a concussion. A taxi was safer.

"There has to be some way to do this!"

"You know, I can just tell him when he calls tomorrow," Kouji said dryly, folding his arms as he split his gaze between his brother and Takuya. The brown-haired leader heaved a dramatic sigh.

"I _know_ that, Kouji. But it's not the point. The point is…is…we just have to do this, that's all!"

Junpei smothered a snort and translated for the younger boy. "We don't want Kouichi to feel like we don't want to be around him anymore. If we have you be the go-between for everything, Kouji, it's like we're fobbing him off or something."

Kouji nodded slightly in understanding, just as Tomoki piped up. "I have an idea!"

"Yeah?" Takuya said, turning to their group's youngest member. Just as the taxi pulled to a stop in front of their injured friend and his mother. "Beans! We're out of time!"

Tomoki snatched the paper from Takuya's hand, and bolted for the loading area. The other four watched him go, and then glanced at each other.

"I hope he knows what he's doing," Izumi murmured, to silent agreement from all the boys.

* * *

Tomoki did know what he was doing. Or at least he thought he knew what he was doing. This wasn't like making the snow catapult with the Tucanmon, where he'd had more time to plan out how he was going to help his friends and the Digimon. Kouichi had helped a lot, after he had joined the building process. And Tomoki knew that the older boy was a little shy around the others – well, except for Kouji – because he still didn't feel he belonged.

And Tomoki knew what that was like. So he was going to make sure Kouichi knew they still wanted to be his friends. Which meant he had to get this paper to Kouichi, before he got in the taxi and without Kimura-san knowing he had given Kouichi anything, because then that would ruin the surprise…

Even though Tomoki had gained a lot of confidence in the Digital World, it was still something of a shock to him that he managed to fall half in Kouichi's lap and _not_ have it look like it had been planned.

"I'm sorry!" he squeaked, purposely making his voice high and whiney. He scrunched his face up, thinking of Kouichi disappearing into fractal code, and Kouji screaming as black and white light erupted around him, and felt tears leak down his face. _Yes!_ "I lost my brother and I thought I saw him come this way and then I tripped on something and I'm going to get left behind I don't know how to get home from here and Takuya-ni-san _said_ he wasn't going to wait if I didn't keep up and I was so scared when Mommy said we had to come-"

Tomoki babbled and whined. It was something he'd excelled at before coming to the Digital World, especially when he could use it to get something he wanted. He hadn't realized that was part of what Yutaka was trying to get him to grow out of, for his own good. But now he did, but he still knew how to do it and he was going to use it for something _good_ this time.

Tomoki knew Dr. Wakahisa was giving him a skeptical look – he knew who 'Takuya-ni-san' was and he knew the two boys weren't related – but Kimura-san was bending down to him with a soft, concerned look so reminiscent of Kouichi, it nearly made Tomoki drop his act.

"Calm down, calm down, it'll be okay," she murmured, stroking his back comfortingly. Tomoki hiccupped and burrowed into the hug Kouichi was giving him. One hand, hidden by his body and Kouichi's hospital robe, shoved the scrap of paper bearing the numbers and addresses into the older boy's stomach. Kouichi shifted a little bit, as if trying to get Tomoki to a more comfortable position than awkwardly sprawled on his lap.

In reality, he shifted just enough to get his own hand to the paper, and just as subtly, hid it in his pants' pocket. Tomoki briefly grinned, knowing the expression was hidden by his hat, and risked a quick glance at Kouichi.

A slightly confused expression greeted him, but a slight nod told the Warrior of Ice that his friend knew this crying was an act.

"Maybe if you tell us what your Takuya-ni-san looks like, we can help you look," Kouichi said softly, the irony in his voice so subtle Tomoki wouldn't have caught it if he didn't recognize the humor in tired blue eyes. Tomoki made himself slowly wind down from his crying fit, as if forcing himself to be calm and launched into a description of Takuya loud enough to be heard by his friends still waiting in the building.

He hoped.

Tomoki hadn't really thought about how he'd get _away_ from Kimura-san without having his bluff called.

_Do something guys, I didn't think this far ahead…_

* * *

The other four legendary warriors were exchanging incredulous looks at that moment. Tomoki had been shrill enough to attract the attention of every bystander within fifty feet. They had heard every word the younger boy had spoken.

"Kid's a genius," Junpei whispered, slightly in awe. Izumi nodded and Takuya was still gaping at the younger boy. Kouji rolled his eyes and gave Takuya a shove forward.

"Get moving, goggle-head. Let this go much longer and Tomoki's going to get caught,"

"Right!" Takuya stumbled forward, then caught himself, straightening up. "I'll just…older brother, yeah. I can do that. Annoyed older brother…"

Still muttering, Takuya stomped his way towards the small knot of people, while his friends smirked at each other behind his back.

* * *

 _What was so important they had to have Tomoki do this to get it to me?_ Kouichi wondered, still half-supporting Tomoki as the younger boy sputtered out a description of Takuya that was loud enough for every bystander within ear shot to hear. The crumpled piece of paper was stuffed awkwardly into the same pocket that held Kouji's number and address. _What's on that paper? And why be so secretive about it?_

Well…they were probably being secretive because it would be hard to explain how he and Tomoki had met.

" _We met in another world, the Digital World, when I attacked him and his friends because this evil Digimon named Cherubimon manipulated me and used me for his own ends…"_

Not the most positive first impression in the world, by a long shot. And most definitely a story that would earn him and Tomoki both a visit to the psychiatric ward of the nearest hospital. Digimon didn't exist in the Human World, after all.

"Tomoki! There you are! Geeze, I told you to keep up!"

"Takuya-ni-san!" Tomoki yelped and threw himself at the older boy. Kouichi had to stifle a laugh, lest he ruin whatever plan the others had come up with. Takuya looked as if he couldn't decide whether to be annoyed or embarrassed and ended up looking slightly constipated in the process. "I thought you left without me!"

Takuya had planted his feet to stay upright after Tomoki tackled him, and had, seemingly reluctantly, hugged him back. He turned brown eyes on the two adults and Kouichi and gave as much of an apologetic bow as he could without squishing Tomoki.

"I'm sorry for my brother, ma'am, doctor," he addressed the two adults, and Kouichi knew Takuya left him out because as far as Kimura Tomoko knew, the two boys had never met before in their lives. "I keep telling him if he doesn't keep up, he'll get left behind someday." A slightly embarrassed shrug of the shoulders followed. "I always forget that he takes me so seriously…"

Kouichi watched as his mother tried and failed to keep a stern look on her face. He hid his own smile by ducking his head, presumably straightening his rumpled clothing.

"You shouldn't tease your brother like that, young man," Kouichi's mother told him. Takuya flushed and nodded dutifully.

"Yes, ma'am, I know. I'll try not to anymore." Takuya looked over to Kouichi. "I'm sorry my little brother fell on you…?"

"Kouichi," the wheelchair bound boy filled in, managing to keep his voice straight with an effort. "Kimura Kouichi."

"I'm sorry Tomoki fell on you, Kimura-kun." Takuya bobbed in a bow again and then nudged his 'little brother.' Tomoki disentangled himself and dipped in his own apologetic bow.

"Yeah, I didn't mean to fall on you! I just tripped. Sorry."

"It's fine," Kouichi said, and kept it at that. If he spoke anymore, his curiosity was likely to get the better of him and he _couldn't_ ask what they were doing in front of his mother. Takuya and Tomoki bid them a cheerful goodbye and disappeared back into the building. Kouichi frowned slighlty after them, wishing he knew what they were up to. But then the taxi driver opened the rear door and there was no more time to speculate.

As Dr. Wakahisa went back to the care center with the wheelchair and his mother gave directions to the driver, Kouichi looked back to the care center building and saw his brother and the others gathered in a corner out of the immediate flow of traffic. Takuya grinned and gave him a thumbs up. Tomoki giggled and waved. Izumi rolled her eyes, but waved at him as well. Junpei nodded at him, seeming to be holding back a snicker as he watched Takuya. Kouji smiled just the slightest bit.

Kouichi felt a grin spread on his face, and as the taxi pulled into Shibuya's evening traffic, knew that it wasn't just his brother that was planning on keeping in touch with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I researched everything I put into this chapter. Public transport - which Japan excels at, but doesn't seem to take into consideration handicaps of any kind. The Japanese language itself, because "Elder Brother Takuya said he'd leave me behind if I didn't keep up," sounds lame in English (you will not convince me it doesn't, and I dare you to make it sound OTHERWISE. XD), and I almost unconsciously have characters use -san to address their elders thanks to my rather large obsession with foreign languages and their technicalities. However, thanks MUST go to Evide and Immortal Fallen Radiance, two of my reviewers on fanfiction.net, for advice and explanations on the uses of -kun at the end of a name, as I did not know the particulars at the time. Also, concussions - all medical advice is the same as any doctor here in the States would give a patient/next-of-kin, and I doubt common medical advice differs THAT much country to country. Someone close to my family suffered a concussion as I was writing this chapter, so...yay odd coincidences??? And he recovered nicely!
> 
> Also, Takuya and Tomoki are hilarious. Enough said.


	4. The Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coffee and tea are equally acceptable as your daily caffeine intake of choice in Japan. Coffee is actually a major import for them. Which surprised me somewhat, cause I don't usually associate coffee with Japan. An awesome sounding language, some of my favorite anime, and truly interesting history, yes. But not coffee. *shrugs* Learn something new every day.

Clapping her hands together with an expression of satisfaction, Kimura Tomoko smiled fondly down at her son. Kouichi was currently settled on the couch in their small living room, various snacks laid within easy reach on a side table, along with a glass full of water. The phone had taken a little more finesse, but she had managed to situate everything so that the phone was also within arm's reach for her son. If the cord would be a little bit stretched out from now on, she could deal with that.

Kouichi was far more important than a phone cord, after all.

"Are you sure you don't need a blanket, Kouichi?" she asked, unable to keep the worry from her tone. Kouichi's blue eyes – so like his father's! – smiled up at her.

"No, I'm fine, Mom. I don't need one." Her son glanced over to the clock mounted on their apartment wall, frowning a bit. "Don't you have to be at work in an hour?"

"I'll be just fine. Ayumi-chan agreed to cover the first fifteen minutes of my shift so I can make sure you're…really okay."

Her voice choked a bit, but Tomoko couldn't help it. Dr. Wakahisa had told her just how close a fight it had been, for Kouichi's life.

_I don't know what I would have done, if I had lost Kouichi too…Not so soon after Mom's death. And so close to the anniversary…_

For a moment, Tomoko could see two identical little faces in her mind's eye. Smiling and giggling as they turned to her, holding out some newfound treasure for her to exclaim over and praise them for.

They had always been such sweet children, even though they had had the temper tantrums all children have. They had been the one joy she could hold to, in the last weeks of her marriage.

_Kouji. Have you grown up as well as your brother? Oh, my little boy…_

"Mom?"

Blinking, Tomoko realized she had let her thoughts carry her away for longer than was wise. Smiling brightly, she bent to give her eldest son a fierce hug. "I'm fine, Kouichi. I'm just so glad you're okay." Straightening, she began to gather the various odds and ends needed for her day at work. Bus pass, train pass just in case she had to work late, spare change, work ID, all accounted for. "Now, you have everything you need in here. I don't want you to move until I get home if you can help it. If you have to use the bathroom, just move very carefully, alright? Take it slow. Remember, Dr. Wakahisa doesn't want you exerting yourself for another week yet."

"I promise, Mom. I'll stay right here, and rest." Kouichi grinned up at her. "Dr. Wakahisa already lectured me about it. Before you arrived at the care center."

 _And he remembers that. That's a good sign._ The mental check list Tomoko had been keeping track of all night and this morning was growing steadily smaller, as Kouichi demonstrated that aside from his headache, rapidly fading nausea and a slight sensitivity to light, he had suffered no lasting damage from his tumble down the stairs.

It was still hard to make herself leave him, however. But her emergency leave had already been exhausted for the year, during her mother's illness and afterwards, for her funeral. She couldn't afford to _not_ go in today. No matter how much her heart begged her to stay.

As she closed and locked the apartment door, Tomoko briefly rested her head against it, feeling a few tears leak down her face.

_You can't get what you want all the time, girl. You know that. You have a job to get to. Go._

A memory of her son's toddler face followed her to the bus stop.

And the memory of confusion in a nearly identical face, as she left her youngest behind for the first and last time in his young life.

* * *

Kouichi waited for five minutes after the door had closed and the lock clicked shut. He had to keep acting as if he didn't know about his twin for a week, and if his mother walked in to grab a forgotten item and heard him on the phone with the brother he wasn't supposed to know about yet…

Well, that would ruin the surprise meeting he was planning.

To pass the time, Kouichi pulled out the paper Tomoki had slipped to him, under the guise of trying to find his 'brother'. A faint smile lingered on his lips as he read the numbers and addresses once again. Each one was listed under a name, and next to each number, was a time frame, when a call was more likely to get an answer.

 _They could have gotten Kouji to give me this information, when I call him today. But they didn't._ And that made all the difference in the world to him.

Kouichi knew Kouji still wanted to be around him, but they were brothers. It was expected that family would stand by you. At least, that was how it worked traditionally. Something had obviously gone wrong, for their parents to have divorced. But now was not the time to wonder what had happened. No matter how curious he was.

What he had not expected was for the others to go to such lengths for the boy who had nearly destroyed all of them, before he had truly remembered his life in the Human World. Yes, they had all been kind and forgiving after Kouji had purified the Spirits of Darkness. And after some initial awkwardness, Lowemon had managed to find his own spot in their battles, with hardly a ripple of unease.

That the same sense of friendliness and camaraderie would continue, here, when they didn't have a world to save, was something of a shock to Kouichi.

Shaking his head, Kouichi put that paper back in his pocket, and drew out the one containing Kouji's number. Picking up the phone, careful to check and make sure he wasn't pulling the cord too far from its base, he dialed his brother's cell phone number with an only slightly apprehensive heart.

* * *

Minamoto Kousei slipped his fingers under his glasses, rubbing at his eyes, attempting to wake himself up. He had to be at the office earlier than usual today, and he hadn't gotten to sleep until nearly two hours after he had intended, waiting for his son to come home.

"Kousei?" The voice came from the kitchen and the man shook his head, and levered himself out of his chair in his office.

"Yes, Satome?"

"Did you want any tea or coffee before you left for work?"

"Just a half cup of tea, please," he called, making his way towards his wife and the kitchen. Coffee was alright some of the time – he did enjoy the taste – but when he knew he was going to have a difficult day at the office, he far preferred to start his day with a peaceful cup of tea. On the way to the kitchen, his eye caught sight of the calendar hanging on his wall and he froze for a moment, all thoughts of work and tea forgotten.

 _The anniversary,_ he thought, half stunned he had managed to forget it was nearly that time of year again. It had always struck him as an awful sort of irony, that the anniversary of the worst day of his life was so close to the anniversary of the best. His divorce and his second marriage, very nearly on the same date.

As always, however, thoughts of his divorce brought to mind the image of a confused toddler, a near identical match for Kouji at the same age, stretching a hand out to him as his mother carried him away.

_Kouichi…do you have everything you need? My son…_

For a few moments, Kousei simply stood, eyes closed, and breathed deeply and evenly. That he didn't know the answers to those questions was his own fault as much as it was Tomoko's and driving himself to distraction wondering would help no one. And whatever disagreements they had with each other over personal habits and tendencies, the one thing both Kousei and Tomoko had never doubted was their spouse's love for their twin sons.

_Tomoko will do her best for Kouichi. And you know that she won't settle for less than all she can give him, even if she deprives herself in the process._

Carefully refusing to think of his opinion of Tomoko's often self-sacrificing personality, Kousei banished all thoughts of his former wife and his eldest son and joined his wife in the kitchen.

It was perhaps ten minutes later, just as Kousei was finishing the last of his tea and Satome was happily humming as she placed the last of the cleaned breakfast dishes away, that his youngest son stuck his head in the kitchen door.

"Um…M-mom?" he asked hesitantly. Kousei and Satome both froze. Kousei in slight suspicion, and Satome in disbelieving hope.

Kouji hadn't called her 'Mom' willingly for nearly a year now, ever since he had convinced himself Satome was trying to take his birth mother's place.

"Y-yes, Kouji? Did you need something?"

Kouji seemed to steel himself, and for some reason, a faint blush was rising on his cheeks. "Could you come into the living room for a minute? And close your eyes. Dad can lead you in. I have something for you."

The couple exchanged speculative looks before Satome nodded her consent and Kouji vanished ahead of them into the living room.

"Do you know what he's planning?" the woman asked, curious and a little nervous. Kousei shook his head.

"No. I did talk to him about being nicer to you, as I know you heard." And as had been the subject of a rather heated discussion between the two of them, after Kouji had stormed out of the house. Forcing a young boy to act contrary to his feelings was an exercise in futility, according to Satome, and certainly did nothing to help matters between step-mother and step-son. "But he never really said anything one way or the other."

"Well," Satome remarked, holding out a hand to her husband. "Let's see, shall we?"

Kousei smiled slightly and took his wife's hand to lead her after his son. And nearly stopped in astonishment as he saw what a nervous Kouji was holding. A moment of silent communication passed between father and son and a silent understanding was reached.

_I'm trying to be better about this. I don't mean to be difficult._

_I know it's hard for you. I'm glad you're trying._

Steering Satome to a position in front of Kouji, Kousei retreated to stand behind and to one side of his son. He watched with pleased pride as his son presented his wife with a beautiful bouquet of flowers with a quiet apology for his attitude for the past year and a promise to try harder.

"It's not you I'm mad at. I realize that now. I'm going to try harder." Kouji's blush intensified as Satome's eyes shone with unshed tears. "So…happy anniversary, Mom."

"Thank you, Kouji," Satome whispered, the only words she could manage past the lump in her throat. Kousei placed an approving hand on his son's shoulder and smiled down at him. Kouji's smile in response was still more embarrassed than anything else, but it was a smile.

Kousei hadn't seen Kouji smile in months. It was a welcome sight.

* * *

Kouji couldn't quite repress his sigh of relief when his dad left for the office and Satome was busily engaged in the kitchen, finding an appropriate vase for the flowers he had bought her.

It had been the right thing to do, apologizing to his step-mother. But that didn't mean he didn't feel weird doing so, and calling her 'Mom' when he _knew_ his birth mother was alive, not dead as Dad had told him.

Which brought up its own set of resentful feelings, but Kouji was determined to hear his father out before jumping to conclusions this time. He'd jumped to conclusions about what his step-mother wanted from her relationship with him, and look how much grief that had caused.

No, he wasn't going to do that again.

But he was still mad that his father had lied to him about such an important subject.

It might be a while before he heard that explanation, though. Dr. Wakahisa had ordered Kouichi to rest for a week, at least, so Kouji couldn't meet his birth mother until then, and it would probably take some planning to figure out how to broach this topic to his father. Not to mention how he was supposed to explain meeting his twin.

The thought of that future explanation was effectively derailed by the memory of his twin's unresponsive form, lying prone and limp on the emergency room table. Kouji shuddered at the memory, suddenly very glad he had come outside as soon as both of his parents were occupied. He didn't want to explain to his step-mother why he suddenly looked ill.

 _Kouichi's fine. You saw that for yourself, yesterday. He…however it happened, Kouichi's alive, he's_ alive _. Quit thinking about him as if he's not._

But no matter how much he lectured himself, the image of his brother, lying unresponsive on the table - and the horrible monotone _beep_ from the heart monitor Kouji had only registered in the back of his mind at the time, but that now seemed to dominate his memory of that horrible moment - would not leave…

The ringing of his cell phone interrupted his thoughts. Kouji shook himself violently, hoping to forcibly banish the memory and the thoughts that accompanied it, and glanced at his caller ID. Recognizing the newest number he had added, Kouji flipped his phone open with a still slightly anxious heart.

"Kouichi?"

"Hello, Kouji."

Kouji nearly slumped in relief against the tree he had been leaning against in his backyard. Kouichi sounded tired, but no more so than he had yesterday at the emergency center.

 _You see?_ He told himself pointedly. _Alive. He's alive and talking to me. So quit acting as if he's not._

"How are you?" Well, at least he had managed to keep his voice from cracking when he asked.

"I'm fine. Just a little tired. I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted last night. Mom had to wake me up a few times to make sure there weren't any complications from my fall down the stairs."

"And?"

A quiet laugh came echoing through the phone connection. "I'm fine, Kouji. I'm just tired and that will go away with rest."

"Right," Kouji said, silently berating himself for being so dense. Kouichi had just told him he was fine! "So…how's our mom handling this?"

"She's…doing better than I thought she would," Kouichi said, his voice a little perplexed. "I didn't think she was going to go to work today, even though she doesn't have any family leave time left. But she did."

"Why doesn't she have any left?" Kouji asked, side-tracked momentarily from his silent annoyance at himself.

"She used it all when Grandma got sick, and then for her funeral."

"Oh," Kouji resisted the temptation to shuffle his feet, and stared up through the branches of the tree. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"Don't be. Grandma would be happy now. She wanted me to find you."

"And you did," Kouji said, a small smile starting on his face.

"So how are you, Kouji?"

"Me?" Kouji repeated, startled. "I didn't fall down a flight of stairs and crack my head against the landing!"

"No, but you had to have gotten home late. Your…our father wasn't worried about you? Or your stepmother?"

Kouji couldn't help but laugh. His twin had almost died yesterday and Kouichi was more worried about whether or not Kouji had gotten in trouble for getting home late.

"Dad was a little worried, but I didn't get in trouble. He was just glad I wasn't on a train when the power in Shibuya got interrupted by Lucemon."

"The power got interrupted?"

For a moment, Kouji was certain something _had_ gone wrong with his brother, despite every indication to the contrary, and then memory kicked in and he relaxed.

"We never got the chance to tell you how the fight with Lucemon ended, did we?"

"No. Dr. Wakahisa didn't let you guys stay for very long. I assumed that you guys won, since you were with me in the care center…"

"Yeah, we won."

"So the Digital World is restored?"

"Yeah," Kouji smiled, and leaned more fully against the tree trunk, retelling the fight that had happened what seemed a life-time ago.

He was slightly hoarse by the time he hung up the phone, but it was worth it. Every question Kouichi had asked had banished a little more of the lingering fears over the damage his twin had sustained during his traumatic entry into, and forcible exit from, the Digital World.

They would handle everything else as it came to them.


	5. Telephone Tag

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could paste in my A/Ns from fanfiction, but then it'd just be me copying out the griping I did about my original beginning being deleted due to technical problems, and it's not really relevant NOW, so...I shall instead tell you that this is the point where "Highway Twenty Ride" by the Zac Brown Band became the theme song for this fic. If you have not heard it, go YouTube it, it is wonderful. And if you have heard it, YouTube it anyway, because it is awesome and should be listened to while reading any scenes in this fic having to do with Kouichi and his dad, especially. But any scene with the twins will do. XDD

Takuya impatiently bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited for the call to ring through. He thought he had shown incredible patience already by waiting until after lunch to call Kouji. There had been plenty of time for Kouichi to call his brother, right? So, Takuya should be able to get an update from Kouji. It only made sense.

"Hello?"

"Kouji!" Takuya greeted enthusiastically. "Did you hear from Kouichi? Is he alright?"

"Hello to you too." Kouji responded dryly. Takuya flushed slightly, but the warrior of light went on before the other boy could retort. "Yes, I heard from Kouichi. He's tired, but otherwise he says he feels fine."

"That's good," Takuya sighed in relief. "I was worried something might have happened overnight."

The brown-haired boy frowned as Kouji didn't answer. "Kouji?"

"I…it's nothing, Takuya."

"Kouji…did you get in trouble for getting home late, or something?"

"No!"

"Then why do you sound upset?"

"…I'm not upset."

"Sure you're not."

"I'm not!" Takuya let his silence over the line stand in for his skeptical expression. Kouji huffed in annoyance. "It's just…I couldn't stop thinking about seeing him on the table, yesterday. And I could hear the heart monitor, too. It…it was just hard, remembering what could have happened. That's all."

Takuya's gaze slid over to his brother's bedroom door, from beyond which the sounds of Shinya fighting a losing battle to find a clean pair of jeans could be heard. His expression tightened.

"Kouichi's fine though. He told you so himself."

"I'll get over it, Takuya. I just…had a hard time convincing myself that Kouichi really was okay, this morning. Until he called, anyway."

Takuya leaned back against the wall outside his brother's room, frowning slightly as the memory of Kouichi dissolving into fractal code flashed across his mind. "Yeah, well, I think all of us are going to have to remind ourselves of that for a while." He shrugged. "So, did he say anything about when you could meet your Mom?"

"Dr. Wakahisa told him to wait at least a week so he could recover from 'falling down the stairs.'" Kouji said, the faintest trace of humor evident in his voice. Takuya snorted. "We didn't talk much about it, really. Kouichi wanted to know how the battle with Lucemon went, and he was getting really tired by the time I finished so he hung up to take a nap. We did talk about it a little, but neither of us is really sure how to go about it. I mean, how do you just tell a woman you're her son that she hasn't seen for at least nine years?"

"Um…hello, I'm your son, happy to see me?" Takuya ventured, and even though he knew Kouji couldn't reach him, he flinched away from the smack he knew would have been heading his way.

" _Takuya…"_

"Sorry, that was lame," Takuya apologized. "Look, why don't you ask Kouichi about it tomorrow? Or…maybe you two could talk to Izumi about it? Aren't girls supposed to be good at this type of thing?"

"Good at what? Reuniting broken families or coming up with better introductions than your sorry attempt?"

"Oh, haha. Just talk to Izumi about it, wise guy." Hearing a muffled shout of triumph from Shinya's room he hurriedly went on. "Look, I promised to take Shinya to the park to meet his friends and I think he finally found a clean pair of jeans. Just call Izumi about it okay? She probably has more ideas than I do."

"I'm not going to have time today, I have self-defense practice in a hour."

"Self-defense?"

"I had to learn how to handle a sword from somewhere, Takuya. Not all of it came from Lobomon. Did you think I managed to fight off those Pabumon by accident?"

"Oh, right…when we first got to the Digital World."

"Yes, then." Kouji snickered. "Could you call Izumi and tell her Kouichi or I will call her tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure." Shinya yelled something Takuya thought was 'I'm almost ready' and he rolled his eyes. "I'll call her once Shinya is occupied in the park with his buddies."

"Thanks."

"Not a problem."

* * *

"Really? But…oh, I guess that makes sense. No! Geeze, Takuya, you are such a _boy_ sometimes…of course he's worried. His brother was…I know that. Hmm…I guess that could work, but you'd need to talk to Kouichi first. Sure. Tomorrow then. Bye."

Orimoto Ryota blinked in confusion at his daughter, who had still not noticed he was standing in the doorway to her room. She had been very down lately, since she wasn't making any new friends at her school and Ryota knew he hadn't been helping, with all the long hours he'd been putting in at his work to adjust to being back in Japan. He'd planned to take her out today for some father-daughter bonding, such as they had been in the habit of doing in Italy, but it sounded like she might have other plans already.

"Izumi?"

"Eep!" His daughter squeaked in surprise and jerked enough that she fell off of her bed, cell phone flying into a corner. She was on her feet again very quickly, hardly looking winded from her sudden introduction to her floorboards. "Dad!" Wide green eyes blinked at him. "Did you need something? I didn't hear you knock."

"You were still talking on the phone when I did. I hadn't realized you had made some knew friends." Ryota cocked an eyebrow at his daughter. "Is this new friend a boy?"

"Daad…" Izumi moaned, rolling her eyes. "Yes, I made friends. No, none of them are girls. And _no_ , I am not interested in them _that way!_ "

"Friends, plural?" Ryota felt his eyebrow travel further up his forehead, now in danger of disappearing behind his bangs. "Just when did you meet these boys, Izumi? And what are their names?"

Izumi smiled at him before turning to fish her cell phone out from under the bedside table it had slid under. "It sometimes feels like I met them weeks ago, Dad. But I suppose it was really only yesterday. So much happened."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Izumi scrunched her face up into an exaggerated grimace of concentration as she found her cell phone just out of her reach. "Kouji and Kouichi – they're twins, but they didn't know it until a few weeks ago: but Kouichi really found out first and told Kouji – but anyway, they met yesterday – face to face, I mean – and Kouichi fell down a flight of stairs at Shibuya and hit his head really hard. We were all really worried for a while. He didn't respond to anything the doctors did for a few minutes! It was scary. But he woke up so it's okay, but their parents still don't know that _they_ know about each other and Kouichi wants to surprise his Mom by introducing her to Kouji. But we have to wait until Kouichi's better, cause Dr. Wakahisa told him to take it easy for a week. And then Takuya and Tomoki gave Kouichi our numbers and-"

"Woah, woah!" Ryota laughed, holding up his hands as if to ward off the flow of words. Izumi gave a glad cry as she finally managed to grab her cell phone and pull it out from under the bedside table. "Information overload." He smiled at his daughter. "Let's try this. Names first, huh?"

"Kimura Kouichi, Minamoto Kouji," Izumi started to recite dutifully. "Kanbara Takuya, Himi Tomoki and Shibuyama Junpei. Next?"

"What happened to Kimura-kun?"

Izumi's eyes became shadowed with worry briefly. "He fell down a flight of stairs at Shibuya train station. He hit his head hard enough that he stopped breathing for a little bit! His heart stopped too…" Izumi's hand clenched near her own heart in remembered fear. Ryota came farther into the room and sat beside his daughter on the floor, pulling her into a hug. Izumi burrowed into his shoulder, breathing deeply.

"Is he okay now?"

"Yes," Izumi nodded into his shoulder. "Yes, he is. His doctor told him to take it easy for a week, to make sure there aren't anymore complications."

"Alright, now. Kimura-kun and…Minamoto-kun's parents are divorced?"

"Yeah. Kouichi found out just before his grandma died. She told him. Kouichi found Kouji and then told him."

Ryota frowned. "Izumi…" he hesitated, not wanting to alarm his daughter, but she didn't have any experience with divorces and their effects on the various members of the family. If she really wanted to keep these boys as friends, she should know this. "Be careful, okay? You don't know why their parents divorced, or…or how they did. Divorces can be messy, sometimes. If Kimura-kun and Minamoto-kun didn't know about each other before just recently – and they are twins?" Izumi nodded. "Then their parents probably each have sole custody of one of them. It…it might not go over well, with either of their parents, that Minamoto-kun wants to meet his mother. Or if Kimura-kun decides he wants to meet his father."

Izumi blinked. "Why would it be a problem? It's great Kouji and Kouichi know each other now!"

Ryota sighed. "Not everything is that simple, Izumi. Just be careful, okay? I don't want you getting hurt."

"I promise I'll be careful, Dad. But I'm stronger than you think."

Ryota was slightly taken aback by the quiet confidence in that statement and simply nodded.

There was really no other answer he could give to that.

* * *

"-and, with a final flourish, I give you-"

Handkerchiefs fluttered to the ground from a hole in his sleeve, and Junpei scowled at the blue and yellow cloth.

"That was supposed to be a boat, not a crumpled mass of cloth on the ground."

Sighing, he bent down to pick up the small squares of cloth and set to trying to figure out where he'd gone wrong _this_ time. Really, magic was wonderful, and he was really good at the sleight of hand, but learning new tricks always took _forever._

Of course, being in the Digital World for weeks on end, getting in fights with what seemed like every other Digimon they met, and finding out that they had to rescue the entire Digital World didn't exactly lend itself well to practicing new magic tricks. And something in Junpei rebelled at the thought of practicing his less polished tricks where others might see him at it. It completely defeated the point if you let people watch you practice. They could figure out the tricks beforehand then.

Absently poking at the hole he hadn't known was there, Junpei mused that it was probably a good thing they hadn't gotten into many fights in human form. Otherwise, his clothes would have a lot more holes in them, and wouldn't _that_ be pleasant to explain to his parents?

"So, if the hole wasn't there, would the trick have gone right?" Junpei wondered out loud. After a few moments' thought, he shook his head. No, he hadn't placed it right to begin with, it would have been misshaped when he produced it with a grand flourish, so the hole had just made the trick fail in a different way. "What a bother…"

The ringing of his cell phone interrupted his musing. Picking it up off of his living room table, Junpei answered absently, still trying to figure out how to fix his mistake. "Hello?"

"Junpei!"

The seventh-grader jumped and then beamed. "Izumi! How are you?"

"I'm fine, Junpei. Has Kouji called you?"

Thrown slightly off-track by the non-sequitur Junpei blinked. "Um…no, he hasn't. Was he supposed to?" The feminine exclamation of disgust from the other end of the line had him pulling the phone hastily away from his ear. He cautiously waited a few moments before gingerly brining the speaker closer towards his ear once again.

"-such an insensitive _boy_ sometimes, I swear, Junpei. I mean really, after what happened to his brother aren't you a _bit_ worried that he'd be feeling depressed?"

Honestly, Junpei was just feeling lucky he had started listening again in time to hear Izumi's question. "Um…I…didn't really think about it." He winced, knowing that wasn't going to go down well with the warrior of wind and hurried on before she could work her way back into her rant. "It's just not something guys think about, Izumi. Kouichi woke up, the doctor said he'd be fine with a little rest, so there's nothing to worry about."

There was a silence from the other end of the line that was somehow even more deafening than the earlier shriek of outrage had been. Junpei shifted nervously.

"I will _never_ understand boys." Izumi declared with resignation. "Fine. I called to tell you that Kouichi called Kouji this morning. Kouichi's fine except for still being tired, and Kouji filled him in on the fight with Lucemon. Kouji and Kouichi and I are going to talk tomorrow about ideas for how to introduce - or maybe it should be reintroduce - Kouji to their mom. I think it would be a good idea if we all got together to talk about it though. If we have more people thinking of ideas, then we'll be able to come up with something really great!"

Junpei could see one glaring flaw right in the middle of her plan. Man, girls really didn't think like guys, did they?

"Izumi…that's great and all, but shouldn't you ask Kouji and Kouichi first if they want us butting in on a family affair?"

"I'm not butting in!"

"They might not see it that way."

"Kouji had Takuya warn me he or Kouichi would call tomorrow to talk about ideas. How do you get they think I'm intruding from that?"

Junpei backtracked a bit mentally. "Okay, so they don't mind _you_ helping. But it is a family thing. And…just trust me, Izumi, it's a guy thing. They might not want to discuss…mushy stuff with other guys. That aren't related to them."

Geeze, he was getting flustered enough having to _explain_ this concept. Kouji'd probably spontaneously combust if Takuya, Tomoki and Junpei tried to push themselves into the discussion without being specifically invited. Kouichi might revert to being mute again.

Though okay, that was probably more from embarrassment at nearly killing all of them while he was Duskmon, but still. The guy had barely said anything for two weeks!

"Fine. I'll ask about it tomorrow. I _still_ think it's a good idea though." Junpei tried to insert another comment in her pause, but Izumi just kept going. "Will you call Tomoki and update him? My dad and I are going out in a little bit for a late lunch and I still have to get ready."

 _Why would it take a long time for you to get ready for lunch with your Dad? It's just a…wait no._ Bad idea, _Junpei. Think of something else. Something else…_

"Yeah, sure, Tomoki," he babbled out. "I'll call him and tell him what's up, sure!"

"…Junpei? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!"

"Right. I'll call you tomorrow to tell you what the twins and I decide, okay?"

"Sure."

Hanging up the phone after an only slightly awkward goodbye, Junpei smacked a palm into his forehead. "Geeze, Junpei…get a grip. You're going to make her suspicious again if you keep freaking her out like that."

Somehow, having a crush on a girl he was also friends with made everything exponentially harder to deal with.

* * *

Yutaka eyed his younger brother with considerable confusion, making sure to keep the large fern his mother insisted on keeping in the hallway – right where groggy college students could trip on it coming home late at night – inbetween them. This was the... _oddest_ conversation he'd ever heard Tomoki have. With anyone. And considering the little brat's manipulative tendencies, that said quite a bit.

 _Oh, lay off, Yutaka…it's not like he can help it. He's only a kid,_ he reprimanded himself. _Just…keep reminding him he's got to grow up sometime and maybe if you do it enough while Mom and Dad are around, it'll get it through_ their _heads by osmosis, or something._

But that had nothing to do with the conversation he was overhearing.

"But I think it's a good idea…well, I guess not. It would be a little embarrassing, wouldn't it? …do you think he's…I mean, it was really scary yesterday, when we couldn't find him where Takuya thought we would and…well, yeah, I know that. Oh! Really? That's great, Junpei!...well, I'm just worried about them. I know I would have been scared if Yutaka had been the one to hit his head like Kouichi did."

_Who the hell is Kouichi? Or Takuya? Or this…Junpei he's talking to? When did Tomoki make friends and how did I miss that?_

"So do you think they'll agree? Well…maybe not, but I'll think of ideas anyway. I want to help! Right, tomorrow. Bye."

Yutaka hurriedly ducked into his room as Tomoki ended his call and came back down the hallway. This required investigation.

Waiting until Tomoki was already past his room and nearly at his own, Yutaka casually leaned in his doorway and called after his brother in a carefully calculated drawl. The only way to keep Tomoki from trying to weasel his way out of an explanation was to keep him off guard.

"So. Just who is Junpei?"

Tomoki squeaked and spun around. Yutaka blinked as he saw the fierce glare in his younger brother's eyes and his small hands clench into fists, before the expression was buried under surprise and his hands abruptly loosened.

"Yutaka! You scared me!"

_Just why did it look like Tomoki was going to attack me for a minute?_

"Yutaka?"

Snorting slightly to cover his confusion, Yutaka fixed his brother with a dark look. "I happen to know you don't know anyone by the name of Junpei. Who is he and where did you meet him?" Was he going to have to explain to his brother why it was a bad idea to give his cell number to strangers?

Please _let him have better sense than that!_

But Tomoki's answer drove all rational thought out of Yutaka's brain.

"He's my friend."

_What?_

Dancing brown eyes looked up to meet his own confused ones. "Junpei and Kouichi are two of my friends, Yutaka. We're going to get together sometime this week to talk, isn't that great?"

With that, Tomoki bounced into his room, the perfect picture of bubbly little boy energy, and Yutaka could only stare after him.

It was two or three minutes before Yutaka regained the presence of mind to go after his little brother and demand more of an explanation.

"He-hey! Tomoki! Get back out here!" He called after his brother.

 _Please, please let these guys…Junpei and Kouichi and Takuya…be nice and_ actual _friends and not a new kind of bully that wants to take advantage of him before beating him up. Please!_

"Yutaka?" Tomoki inquired, opening his door with confusion plain on his face.

"Where did you meet him? How did you become friends?"

Tomoki's expression was strange, something Yutaka could have sworn he'd seen before, but not on his little brother's face. Now where…

"Boys! It's time to go!"

"Uh-" Yutaka's head snapped in the direction of their mother's voice at the same time as Tomoki's. "We'll be right there, Mom!"

"NOW, Yutaka! Make sure your brother has his coat, it's supposed to get a little chilly later today and the performance won't be over until dark!"

The clicking of a door latch brought him attention back to his brother, who was in the process of slipping past Yutaka while fumbling to tie his coat around his waist. "He-hey! Tomoki!"

"But Yutaka, the play will start really soon! I don't want to miss it! Mom's been talking about it for weeks! It must be really exciting!"

And before Yutaka could protest again, Tomoki was gone. The college student growled and stomped after him.

 _Oh, this isn't over, little brother. You_ are _answering my questions._ Tomoki's expression from earlier flashed into Yutaka's mind again and he frowned. _And why did you look so…grateful when I confronted you earlier?_


	6. Attempting to Plan

Izumi hummed happily to herself as she reached the top of the tree she had targeted in her back yard. She wore a tattered pair of old jeans and a warm, long sleeved shirt, as opposed to her usual skirt and mid-drift top ensemble. That just wasn't practical for climbing trees, no matter how much she wished it was.

"Izumi! Don't forget to take the laundry out of the dryer when it's done!"

Looking down, Izumi met her mother's eyes and waved down at her. "I won't, Mom!"

"And do NOT fall out of that tree, young lady!"

Rolling her eyes, Izumi opted to simply wave again, instead of calling her response down. She had no wish to be grounded for disrespectful behavior. But really…

"I haven't fallen out of a tree since I was seven…and that was because of an earthquake. Completely not my fault."

Although she really should have known better, even at seven, to go climbing trees when there had been several minor earthquakes in the span of a month. It was just _asking_ for one to hit while she was in the process of moving from one branch to the next: the exact _perfect_ time for her to lose her grip and fall to the rolling ground.

"At least it wasn't a very big one…that one didn't hit until the next day…" Izumi sighed with pleasure as the breeze wafted by her perch, blowing her hair out of her face. It felt so good to properly feel the wind again. She hadn't thought coming back to the Human World would make her feel as if a part of her was missing, but not being able to become Kazemon and dance in the wind made her feel a little claustrophobic in her house. And with all the memories in her head, of several weeks passing when everyone in the Human World would swear she hadn't even been gone ten minutes…well, getting up high, where she could see over the rooftops of the houses near her, and feel the wind blowing though her hair, helped soothe her nerves.

Shifting around so she could lean into the wind without losing her balance, Izumi closed her eyes and let her mind drift over the past several weeks…or just yesterday evening, depending on how you looked at it.

It was so weird, and it felt like a dream sometimes, but she really had gone to another world and helped to _save_ it even. How many girls could say that? How many people could claim they were part Digimon, even if they couldn't evolve anymore? A small smile played on the girl's upturned face. There were only six she knew of, including herself. And thinking of those other five led her mind to the memory she had been trying to repress for the entire morning…

" _I know now why I came to the Digital World…"_

" _Lucemon! You aren't the only one who can use both the power of Light and Darkness!"_

" _When I go back to the Human World…I won't see you there…most likely I'm…I'm no more…"_

" _Protect our world…"_

Izumi clenched her fists at her sides, shaking with remembered fear and pain. It had been hard enough for _her_ to watch Kouichi disappear into fractal code. It had been hard enough for _her_ to watch the quiet boy she had come to see as a good friend sacrifice himself for them, with such utter _confidence_ that they would win…how must Kouji have felt, seeing it happen to his _twin_?

"He can't have known we would win…how could he have?" Swimming with tears, the warrior of wind's green eyes opened to stare unseeing at the blue sky above her. "We got defeated so easily in those first attacks…but he looked so _sure_ , when he gave Kouji his spirits." She stubbornly refused to acknowledge the tears running down her cheeks. "He didn't ask us to do our best, or just to try…he asked us to protect our world, like he knew…" Shaking her head, Izumi huffed and scrubbed angrily at the tears that had blurred her vision. "Kouichi…how did you know we could do it?"

A bright, cheery tune sounded, as if in answer to her question and Izumi jumped, badly startled. Only her foresight in having locked her legs around the branch she sat on and bracing them on another kept her from tumbling down over ten feet to the unforgiving ground. Izumi settled herself a little more firmly into her niche and pulled her cell phone from her pocket, answering without bothering to look at the ID number.

"Y-yes?" she managed, still shaken up by her memories and the unexpectedness of the call.

"Izumi?" a quiet voice asked her, sounding concerned. "Are you alright? You sound upset."

Izumi felt the inexplicable weight of _Kouichi-is-hurt_ lessen somewhat at the warrior of darkness' voice. She had known he was fine, Takuya had passed that knowledge on to her, but it hadn't really sunk in until just now, when she heard his voice for herself.

"Kouichi!" Izumi smiled softly, not caring her friend couldn't see her expression. It was just so _good_ to hear his voice. "I'm fine. Your call just startled me a bit. I wasn't expecting my phone to ring just now."

"Is this a bad time?" Wariness had crept into that warm voice and Izumi frantically shook her head.

"No! No, it's not a bad time. It's what I put on the paper Tomoki gave you, remember? I just thought you might be resting still, or something…"

"Oh. Alright, if you're sure…" Kouichi let the sentence hang, unfinished and Izumi sighed.

"I really will be fine, Kouichi," she said softly. "But I was really worried about you yesterday, and I still need some time to convince my heart that you…" her voice choked and Izumi squeezed her eyes shut against the memory of Kouichi dissolving into fractal code. "That you didn't really…that you're okay, now."

The silence on the other end of the line was nerve-racking, for some reason. Really, there was no reason for her to feel nervous that Kouichi wasn't speaking just yet…really there wasn't and –

"I think Kouji was having the same problem, yesterday," the warrior of darkness finally said, voice pensive. "He didn't say it in so many words, but I think he's having the same trouble. Did-" Kouichi hesitated and Izumi silently cursed her phone for not having a video feature. She wanted to see her friend's face and expressions. "-did I really look that bad? When you guys found me?"

Izumi hesitated herself, now, unsure whether Kouichi really needed to _know_ what he had looked like, on that table…but…wouldn't it be better for him to know, instead of wonder and worry over the distress he had inadvertently caused his friends and his twin?

"You didn't…" Izumi had to swallow hard before she could get her voice to function normally. It had this bizarre tendency to want to break in the middle of words. "You didn't look as if you'd just been in a battle, if that's what you're wondering," she managed in a whisper. "But…you didn't…really look like _you_ , either. You were so still and…and you weren't breathing when we first got there…" Tears clouded her eyes again. "Kouji told you that Lowemon contacted him, right? When the Spirits threw us into the portal back here?"

"Yes. Kouji said Lowemon was the reason you guys knew I wasn't dead."

"Yes, well…we weren't – we had hoped – it wasn't…" Izumi gave a shaky laugh. "I don't think any of us could really understand that you had been hurt that badly. I mean…Bokomon told us about your conversation with Crusadermon – about being a spirit in the Digital World – but I don't think any of us really connected that with…I mean, we could touch you and interact with you and all, you couldn't really be just a spirit! So you had to be just fine."

"But I wasn't," Kouichi's voice was soft and compassionate. Izumi bit back a sob and stared down at her yard, so far below.

"I think…I think I understood that – that you were really hurt _here_ , in our world – when I saw you on that table, Kouichi. I mean I understood what you being a spirit in the Digital World meant. Something really bad had to have happened, to force your spirit from your body, but since Lowemon said he could still sense you, that meant Lucemon couldn't possibly have done anything…well, _permanent_ to your spirit. I thought it would just have been a simple thing from there. You just had to find your body again, right?" She gave a shaky laugh. Kouichi didn't say anything. "But Takuya remembered you heading for the stairs and we ran down them, and found the police barrier and – and your hat at the bottom of those stairs…and they told Kouji that you'd been taken to the emergency care center…"

"Izumi…you don't have to keep talking about this, if it upsets you so much."

"No…no, I'm fine," Izumi said, not bothering to wipe her tears away this time. "Unless you want me to stop."

"If this is helping you, then keep going." Kouichi replied immediately. Izumi could hear the small smile in his voice. "You helped me deal with being Duskmon. The least I can do is help you with this."

"I didn't do that so you'd owe me a favor, Kouichi!" she snapped half-halfheartedly. A low chuckle came over the line, and Izumi was briefly sidetracked by how similar to his brother he sounded when he laughed like that.

"No. You listened because you're my friend. I want to do the same for you."

Izumi huffed, but smiled through her annoyance. "So long as you understand that." Leaning back, Izumi let the trunk hold her weight as she stared at the achingly blue sky above her. "I've never seen Kouji run so fast, you know. We had barely gotten directions from the policeman when he was already half-way down the hallway. We never actually caught up to him until he got to the emergency room they'd taken you to, you know. And that was only because he'd paused in the doorway." Izumi's eyes lost focus, turning inward to see that scene once again: Kouji's tense shoulders and sudden stop, the brief scramble to avoid plowing into the warrior of light's back, the quick glimpse of a blank, too still face lying on that table…

"…but?" Kouichi prompted, when her silence lasted a bit too long. Izumi started, not having realized she'd stopped speaking.

"Oh! That…that first look…Kouichi, I've never been so scared. Not even when we thought Lucemon was going to succeed and enter the Human World. You were just _lying_ there…and your eyes were open, but you weren't _looking_ at anything, you know? Just a…a blank stare. And you weren't moving, either, not even the little twitches people do when they're unconscious." She'd gotten a little _too_ familiar with how the human body reacted to stress and violent fights. It just wasn't natural for a human's body to be completely still. There was always _some_ movement, even if only the barest rise and fall of their chest as they breathed, an unconscious wince as something pulled or scraped against a bruise or cut, or the shuttling of eyes underneath closed eyelids. "You weren't breathing, and…and the heart-monitor d-didn't show anything but that _s-stupid_ flat line," she whispered, broken-voiced.

"Izumi. Izumi! I'm fine now, alright? You don't have to cry for me, I'm fine."

 _I'm crying?_ Izumi thought, distantly. A few blinks told her that yes, there were more tears gathered in her eyes and her ears vaguely registered the sound of her own hitched breathing. _Oh, so I am…_

"St-stupid boys," she managed to get out. "I'm cr-crying because I-I'm _happy_ you're okay!"

There was silence for a moment, and Izumi could almost _hear_ the skepticism creep down the line to her ear.

"I'll take your word for that," Kouichi said dryly. "You sure don't _sound_ happy."

The dry tone of the older twin's voice was so much more familiar coming from Kouji that Izumi was startled into a giggle.

"Oh, now you're going to laugh at me? Maybe I should call back later…"

Still that same dry, caustic tone that wasn't at all like Kouichi's normal quiet, warm voice. She giggled more. "St-stop that, Kouichi!" she stuttered out. "You're doing that on purpose!"

"And if I am?" Still no change in his tone. Izumi collapsed into helpless giggles, for some obscure reason finally convinced in both heart and mind that her friend was alright.

* * *

Kouichi listened to Izumi's giggles over the phone and smiled. It had been a gamble, speaking to Izumi like he had, but not much of one. He'd noticed a trend in the way the others had seen – and consequently treated - Kouji and himself, over the weeks he'd spent with the other legendary warriors. He and Kouji had been the polar opposites, the only thing they shared in common their looks and their ancestry. And, much more commonly as the weeks went on, they were brothers, each with distinct personality traits, overlapping in some areas, but never quite the same. So when either one of them had done or said something the others associated more with the other twin…

Smile turning wry, Kouichi waited patiently for Izumi to giggle herself out. It really hadn't taken much thought to figure out how to shock the girl out of her memory induced crying fit. These giggles were much more…healthy sounding than the broken sobs had been.

"You-you…I don't believe-" giggles interrupted her attempted conversation, and Kouichi resisted the urge to say something else to make them start up in earnest again. He really _did_ need to talk to her. "You're impossible!" Izumi finally managed to half-giggle, half-shriek down the phone connection.

"I try," he responded dryly, unable to resist one last teasing remark. Izumi made a sound that might have been a huff if she hadn't been giggling. Kouichi's own smile toned down a little bit. "But, seriously, Izumi, are you okay?"

The giggles faded away, but the warrior of wind didn't hesitate before responding. "Yes. Yes, now I think I really am." Kouichi relaxed back into the couch with a faint sigh of relief. Good. "Thanks, Kouichi,"

"It's nothing," he responded on automatic.

"So…" Izumi ventured, her voice back to its normal bubbly, friendly tones. "Did you call for a specific reason, Kouichi? Or did you just want to talk?"

The warrior of darkness stared at the ceiling and felt a wry grin tug at his mouth. "Takuya told Kouji you'd probably have more ideas for how to introduce him to Mom than either of us do," he replied simply. Izumi snickered a bit.

"I thought that was why you called," she told him. "I've thought a little about it, but really, what you two need to do is figure out what time would work best. What's your mom's work schedule like? You and Kouji have to work around that. And then we can move on to how to introduce – or, um…is it reintroduce? – Kouji to your mom."

"That's a good point," Kouichi mused. "Kouji said he didn't care what day we did it on, but he's going to have to work around his parents' schedules too."

"Let's do a three-way call then," Izumi suggested.

Ten minutes and three frustrating attempts to set up a three-way call through Izumi's cell phone later, and it had been empirically proven that, through some technological annoyance none of them understood, a three-way call between the twins and Izumi was not going to work.

Growling slightly under his breath, Kouichi breathed deeply a few times before attempting to speak. Kouji had snarled something about instruction manuals before hanging up a minute or so ago, and the elder twin was once again on the phone with Izumi. "So…any other ideas? If we have to relay ideas and answers through you, this is going to take forever."

Izumi's voice was just slightly less frustrated. "Well…can we meet up and do this? There's this neat little coffee shop in…oh, wait…" Izumi's voice trailed off. "You're supposed to be resting. Never mind, that won't work."

Kouichi bit his lip and glanced around his slightly messy living room. With his mother's heavy work schedule and her strict admonition to him to not get up unless he absolutely had to, it wasn't as neat as it usually was, but…

"You two could come here," Kouichi blurted before he could second guess himself.

"Really?" Izumi sounded slightly skeptical. "Aren't we trying to avoid ruining your Mom's surprise?"

"She won't be home until nine, at the earliest. We have plenty of time."

Kouichi could hear Izumi humming quietly as she thought. "Hmm…I guess I could…and…okay, Kouichi. If you're sure we won't get caught."

"We won't." His mother's schedule was as reliable as the clock. There would be plenty of time for Kouji and Izumi to get clear before his mother got home.

"Alright, would you tell Kouji? I've got to do a couple things here before I leave, but I can be there in an hour, I think."

Nodding out of habit, even though he knew she couldn't see him, Kouichi agreed. "You know the address, right?"

"You _did_ ask Kouji to share it, right?" she countered. Kouichi snickered and they both hung up. Glancing at the coffee table with his discarded breakfast and lunch dishes, Kouichi sighed.

"I need to at least put those in the sink before they get here…"

But first things first. He needed to call his brother.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't mind checking on him for me?"

"Quit worrying, Tomoko-chan. It's not a problem. I'll be over there anyway."

"You've already done so much today-"

"It's no trouble, honestly. Besides, I'd like the chance to see for myself that he's really okay, you know?"

"Thank you so much for doing this."

"Tomoko-chan! It's...oh, fine. You're welcome. Just quit worrying so much."

"I'll try."

The two women smiled before parting ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over on fanfiction, I said this would be the last chapter dealing with major reactions to Kouichi's near-death experience. I have since realized that his father has yet to even HEAR about it, let alone react to it. So...one more chapter, much later chapter-wise, but probably a lot sooner in actuality, since it's only a few chapters from where I'm currently writing/posting.
> 
> On actual chapter related news, Izumi has always been a particular favorite of mine, and I've always thought she would have been the other character to have a bad reaction to Kouichi's loss/return. Kouji being the obvious first character to do so, of course. Tomoki's really too young to understand the gravity of what Kouichi implied with his "I don't think I'll see you"/"I'm ready" remarks, and Takuya and Junpei, I think, can set it aside as having been resolved.


	7. Surprising the Planners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When do things ever go according to plan? That just wouldn't be any fun to read! Or write, come to think of it...

Kouichi had just placed the last cleaned dish in the drying rack when a quick _rap-rap-rap_ on the door announced the arrival of his brother or his friend. Still being careful of how he moved, but far faster than he'd been able to move yesterday, he made his way to the door and opened it to see Izumi's concerned face.

"Kouichi! Are you okay? You're not dizzy or anything? I don't want you to hurt yourself by doing too much…" she rambled, even as she stepped inside and toed out of her shoes. Kouichi hid a smile and just gave her a pointed look, before flicking his gaze to the lock on the door. Izumi flushed slightly. "Still," she mumbled. "I just worry. Concussions mess with you for _days."_

"Which is why I've been ordered to rest for a week by Dr. Wakahisa, and Mom forbid me to get off the couch unless I absolutely had to." Kouichi smiled, and remembering Kouji at the care center and Izumi's own tears over the phone, reached out and deliberately placed his warm, still slightly damp hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly. "I'm fine, Izumi." Cocking his head, his smile turned mischievous. "If it bothers you so much that I'm not resting on the couch, you can let Kouji in when he gets here, and get us all something to drink."

Izumi giggled. Her smile was bright and warm and Kouichi was infinitely glad she was his friend. "I'll do that." Her own hand grabbed onto his and she started to tug him towards the couch she could see through the connecting doorway to the living room. "Now, you're going to sit, and follow Dr. Wakahisa's _and_ your mother's orders, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Kouichi said, still grinning.

"Why is your hand wet, Kouichi?"

"I was washing some dishes before you came over."

Izumi growled a bit under her breath as she spun to firmly push the boy onto the couch, where he bounced slightly, landing more on his side than upright. "What happened to not getting off the couch unless absolutely necessary?" she demanded, hands on hips, slight chagrin flickering in her eyes at his less than graceful landing.

Kouichi shrugged, shifting so he was sitting more normally instead of on his side, grinning to let his friend know he hadn't taken any harm from the playful shove. Izumi's returning smile was grateful, though it tempered back into exasperated as he continued. "Well, it's not polite to have dirty dishes lying around when you have guests coming. I took them into the kitchen, and since I was already there, I just washed them too."

He was saved from being lectured by another sharp _rap-rap-rap_ on the door. Izumi's head whipped around at the sound and she gave him a pointed look before marching to the door. Kouichi snickered into his hand, trying very hard not to let her hear him. Thankfully for him, Izumi didn't come back to the living room immediately, but shooed a confused Kouji into the room while she disappeared to the kitchen.

"Kouichi, where are the glasses?" Izumi's voice floated to them from the kitchen.

"Top cabinet by the sink," he called back, managing to keep his voice straight. Kouji warily took a seat next to Kouichi on the couch and turned a confused look on his still quietly snickering brother. Kouichi managed to swallow his mirth, grinned and whispered, "Izumi's been lecturing me about doing too much when I'm supposed to be resting. I'm to sit here and follow Mom's and Dr. Wakahisa's orders."

"You weren't?" Kouji asked, one eyebrow rising. Kouichi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. If Izumi's break-down earlier on the phone was any indication, he'd really left an impression on his friends when he'd…died, or whatever it was he'd done. And not a positive one either.

"Mom made me promise to only get off the couch if I absolutely had to. I had to put the dishes I used for breakfast and lunch away. Since I was already in the kitchen, I washed them too. That's when Izumi got here, and I had to unlock the door to let her in." Kouichi shook his head. "I'm fine. I'm careful when I get up and when I'm walking, in case I get dizzy. It's much easier to move around today. I don't think I need a full week to recover, but I promised Dr. Wakahisa. So a week it is."

Kouji looked vaguely shamefaced as he nodded. "We just want you to get better soon, Kouichi."

The elder twin nodded. "I know. I understand that." He grinned suddenly at Kouji. "Which is why I haven't snapped at anyone for telling me to take it easy. I'm not made of glass."

Kouji blinked, startled. "Have…have we really been treating you like that?"

Kouichi _did_ roll his eyes this time. "A little. Kouji, I _understand_. I'm not offended and I'm…I'm glad I have people to care like that for me." He flushed a little bit, noticing out of the corner of his eye Kouji was determinedly _not_ _looking_ at him as red dusted his own cheeks. "Besides Mom, I mean."

"Has it really just been you and your mom, Kouichi?"

Startled by Izumi's soft voice, both boys jumped. The girl flushed with embarrassment, but presented each boy with a glass of ice water with a determined smile.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but it's kind of hard not to hear you two when there's no door to block sounds from in here."

Kouichi slowly sipped his water to give himself time to think, while Kouji downed half of his in a couple swallows, as if he thought the cold temperature would eliminate the red staining his cheeks. Izumi fiddled with her own glass.

It wasn't that he was embarrassed by his life before he'd met his brother, but…he'd planned on having Kouji be the first to hear of it. Wasn't that his right?

 _You don't mind her helping you introduce Kouji to Mom, why is this different? That's a lot more personal._ A little voice in his head pointed out. Putting his glass down on the coffee table, he conceded the point to the mental voice and shrugged in answer to Izumi's question.

"Well, Mom and Grandma have been the only family I remember." Kouichi frowned down at his drink, old, fragmentary memories fighting to get to the surface of his mind. "Well…the only family I remember clearly." He glanced to the side to look at Kouji, who had managed to master his blush and was listening with intense curiosity. "I've always had…these images of a man Mom's age, who looked kind of like me, who smiled whenever he saw me. But…" he shrugged again. "I don't know if those fragments are really memories or just my imagination." He looked back to Izumi. "But, while Mom and Grandma were my family, I've always known I could go to Ayumi-san, too."

"Who's Ayumi-san?" Kouji asked while Izumi blinked.

Kouichi smiled. "She's Mom's friend. They've worked at the same hospital for years. At least since I was a toddler. She was always the one to watch me when Mom or Grandma couldn't, when I was little. She's always given me presents for my birthday, and she's shown up for everyone that she could. Ayumi-san was the one who stayed with me whenever Mom was-" he faltered momentarily, "-with Grandma, those last few weeks. She's almost like my aunt, but she refuses to let me call her that." He snickered a little bit, his mood brightening. "She says it makes her feel old. And that Nakano-san makes her sound stuffy." His brother and Izumi laughed with him at that. "So…we haven't been alone, if that's what you were wondering, Izumi."

The girl smiled brightly at him, and turned her gaze to include Kouji. "So. We have until nine, Kouichi said. Let's get planning."

The twins shared a smile, before they both leaned forward and began laying out the times that would absolutely not work because of their parents' schedules, or their own.

* * *

Nakano Ayumi skillfully dodged her fellow commuters as she dug in her purse for the spare key Tomoko-chan had given her years ago. It wouldn't do to get to the apartment and have to wait for Kouichi-kun to open the door for her. He was supposed to be resting, and that did not include trekking to the door to let her in.

"Oh, I know I had it when I left, now where…? Ah! Here it is." Grinning, Ayumi wove it onto her own key ring. Tomoko-chan always had warned her she'd lose her key if she kept forgetting to put it with the others. "Huh…more likely to lose it if I _do,_ " she told herself, remembering a couple instances of a vanishing house key. "My key ring eats things, I swear it does…" Shrugging as she completed her task, she laughed at herself. "Well, we'll just have to see, won't we?"

She'd gotten her mother to and from her eye appointment with more ease than she had expected, so she was a little earlier than she'd thought she'd be, checking on her friend's son, but that was okay. She knew Kouichi-kun, and she was well aware he'd be bored out of his mind by now, no matter how many books and puzzles Tomoko-chan had supplied him with before she left.

"Now, there's an idea for his next birthday," she mused to herself. "He has gone through an awful lot of those puzzles lately. Maybe I should get him a new puzzle book…"

And even if he had exhausted his books and puzzles, there was only so long any eleven year old boy could study for without going crazy. It really was a shame he'd missed his exams when his grandmother had passed away, but Fukui-sensei was a kind woman and had graciously arranged with the school board for Kouichi-kun to take the exams during the spring break. His admittance to the next grade was still dependent on his scores of course, but Kouichi-kun had never been a lack-luster student.

Ayumi blinked as a thought struck her. "Oh dear, those are supposed to be two days from now…I wonder if Tomoko-chan's spoken to Fukui-sensei about them yet?"

Well, she'd just remind Tomoko-chan of the exams when she came home. Problem solved. And maybe she could help Kouichi-kun study too. He always had done better when he had someone to explain the concepts he was learning to.

And here was the Kimura's apartment building. Juggling her purse, key ring, and the bag filled with miscellaneous goodies for Kouichi that he technically shouldn't be eating before dinner, Ayumi managed to get the key in the lock and the door opened before she dropped anything.

"Kouichi-kun?" she called as she stepped into the kitchen, grateful she'd worn her slip-on shoes to work today. It made things so much simpler now. She dropped her things on the kitchen table as she noticed the cleaned dishes on the drying rack and shook her head with fond exasperation. "I'm fairly certain doing the dishes isn't included in your mother's definition of tasks that merit getting off that couch, young man."

"A-Ayumi-san?" Kouichi-kun's startled voice echoed from the living room. Well at least he'd had the sense to go back to the couch instead of trying to do anymore chores that could wait until he was completely recovered. A muffled thump had her snapping her head around in alarm and dashing into the living room.

"Kouichi-kun! Are you…alright?" Ayumi trailed off, completely baffled, as wide green eyes set in a young girl's face blinked at her from the floor by the couch. Kouichi was a mortified pink, and he dropped his face into his hands. "Um…hello?" There were random bits of paper scattered on the coffee table, with what looked like dates and times written on them, and three glasses of ice water, at varying levels of full. Ayumi's eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you hurt?" she asked the girl.

"Um…um…oh, no! I'm fine. I just slipped, is all…"

"Kouichi-kun?"

Guilty blue eyes peeked out at her from between his fingers. "Yes, Ayumi-san?" his voice was that of a child who knew he'd been caught. Good. He needed to squirm a little.

"Why don't you introduce me to your friend?"

The green-eyed girl still hadn't gotten off the floor. Ayumi was finding that slightly amusing, but no matter how grateful she was that Kouichi-kun seemed to have made a friend – and more than one if she was right – it was no excuse for not telling his mother he'd invited her home while he was supposed to be recovering from a concussion. Friends could wait. His health could not.

"Ayumi-san, this is my friend, Orimoto Izumi," Kouichi mumbled dutifully. He managed to look at Izumi without lifting his head out of his hands and reversed the introductions. Ayumi wasn't listening. She knew there had to be a fourth person in this room – the three glasses were rather a giveaway - and there were a limited number of places he or she could be hiding…

"Um…Ayumi-san, are you looking for something?" Kouichi-kun's tentative question coincided with her discovery of the most likely hiding spot. She turned her full attention back on the boy.

"Kouichi-kun, I know your mother taught you better manners than this," she told him sternly, while his eyes widened in only mostly concealed panic, hands falling away from his face. _Got you_ , she thought triumphantly. "Is there a reason your other friend is hiding behind the couch? And a reason you haven't introduced him or her as well?"

Kouichi-kun and Orimoto-chan exchanged a slightly panicky look, before the girl gave an incredulous laugh. "You missed someone with the schedules, Kouichi," she said in a lilting voice.

Ayumi frowned in confusion as Kouichi winced and nodded in agreement. "I forgot Mom might have asked Ayumi-san to check on me."

"Kouichi-kun!" said woman interrupted him sharply. "Your friend behind the couch?"

Both children glanced behind them, to where their friend must be hiding – and he was _good_ , Ayumi hadn't heard a peep from this as yet nameless person – and then shrugged at each other. Kouichi looked up at her, while Orimoto-chan climbed onto the couch to peer over the back, expression concerned.

"He's a bit more than just a friend, Ayumi-san," he said, voice loud enough to cover the girl's quiet question. Kouichi took a deep breath and looked her in the eye. "You've known my mother since before I was born, right?"

"Yes, for about three years, but that's hardly the point right now, Kouichi-kun-"

"I'm sorry, Ayumi-san, but it is the point. Because since you've known Mom that long, you already know my…friend's name." His expression firmed, settling into a baffling mix of determination and hurt. "I know, Ayumi-san."

_He knows? Knows what…?_

Her eyes widened as she made the connection and her shocked whisper coincided with the rather nervous looking double of Kouichi that was straightening from his hiding place behind the couch.

"Kouji-kun…"

* * *

Meeting Kouji again was, to say the least, very startling for Ayumi. But she was a trauma nurse for a reason – shocks had never kept her from functioning for long. Within a minute, Kouichi's sort of aunt had recovered from her shock enough to pin her friend's eldest son with a _look_ and a demand for an explanation.

Ayumi had stood with arms folded and expression firm as Kouji – oh, the years had only made the twins look more like each other, despite Kouji's longer hair and bandanna – exchanged a look with the girl, and then they both turned to Kouichi, who shrugged and nodded. Orimoto-chan seated herself in a chair and Kouji rounded the couch to sit by his twin, while Ayumi mentally debated with herself, and finally compromised by perching on the arm of the couch between the twins and their friend.

This would surely be an interesting story.

* * *

Kouji wasn't sure what he had expected Ayumi-san to be like, but the woman who had surprised them in the middle of their planning was not it. She wasn't much older than his step-mother, and had the same shade of mouse-brown hair Satome-san had, sensibly dressed in trousers and a neat blouse. Her eyes were a dark brown, nearly black, but the little lines around her eyes and at the corners of her mouth told Kouji she probably smiled and laughed more than she frowned as she was doing now. She wasn't exceptionally tall for a woman, but she wasn't extremely short either, ending up somewhere in the middle.

In other words, she looked just like any other middle-aged career woman that Kouji had seen before. Even if she had destroyed the image by perching on the couch arm like any kid his age would do. His thoughts were interrupted as his brother began to speak.

"Do you remember, Ayumi-san, how weird Grandma was acting, for a week or so while she was ill? And then she was normal again, for the last couple of days before she died?"

Those brown-black eyes held sympathy as Ayumi-san nodded. "Your mother thinks she was struggling with the realization she was dying. And when she accepted it, she was at peace again." The trauma nurse smiled slightly and shook her head. "I always thought that was a bit absurd, myself. Your grandmother was always very practical about life and death. But it gave your mother comfort, so I wasn't about to contradict her."

Kouji shifted slightly, uncomfortable. He couldn't remember this woman, but he felt as if he should be grieving her loss as his brother had. That he felt nothing beyond sympathy for his twin left him feeling as if he had somehow betrayed his brother. A slight touch on his arm turned Kouji's attention to Kouichi, who smiled slightly at him and shook his head. Kouji crooked a slightly sheepish grin and nodded.

_Don't blame myself for what I have. And what I never had the chance to know._

But Kouichi was speaking again. "I don't know if Grandma was struggling with that. But I know she debated with herself about whether or not to tell me about Kouji for that week."

Glancing back to Ayumi-san, Kouji couldn't find even a trace of surprise in the woman's face.

"I thought so. Ran-san never did approve of the court's decision to split the two of you up."

Kouji jerked, startled, and Kouichi stiffened next to him. "The _court_ was what split us up?" Kouji demanded, only barely managing to keep his reaction from becoming a yell. Izumi had already clamped a hand over her mouth to contain her startled squeak.

Ayumi-san sighed and nodded. "I want you two to understand, most of the explanation is going to have to come from your parents. It's not my place to tell you a lot of the circumstances or reasons, even if I knew all of them, which I don't." She leaned forward, pinning both boys with her gaze. "But you two have found each other now, and there is no taking that back. So I'll tell you what I can if you answer a question for me."

There was silence in the apartment for several moments, before Kouji's mouth quirked into a smirk, which had Izumi regarding him as if she expected him to explode at any moment. Kouji ignored her. Kouichi hadn't reacted, and that was all the indication he needed that this was okay. "We'll answer if you make a promise first," he retorted.

Ayumi-san raised an eyebrow at him. "And this promise?"

"Don't tell Mom about Kouji," Kouichi picked up his cue beautifully. "Not yet, at least. We want to do that."

The woman was silent for a long moment, but she finally nodded. "Agreed. I'll keep silent. Now, my question," a small, knowing smile played about her mouth. "Would your fall down the stairs have anything to do with meeting your brother, Kouichi-kun?"

Kouji felt a flush starting on his face, and avoided the woman's eyes, the monotone of the heart monitor replaying in his mind.

"No."

The younger twin snapped his head around to look at his brother, startled at the bald-faced lie. Kouichi returned his look calmly, and raised one eyebrow at him before he continued. "Meeting Kouji had nothing to do with me falling down the stairs. We met in _person_ for the first time that day, but we've known for a lot longer than that." Now it was Kouichi's turn to flush with embarrassment. "I was running late and I missed the elevator, so I took the stairs." He shrugged slightly, avoiding Ayumi-san's gaze. "I must have taken a corner too fast and tripped. I don't really remember hitting the bottom, just falling and then darkness."

Kouji was fervently grateful that he had spent so long hiding his real feelings from his father and step-mother, because it made it infinitely easier to keep a straight face in front of Ayumi-san now. And it was a good thing Izumi wasn't in the woman's line of sight, because her wide-eyed shock would have given Kouichi away in a heartbeat. While nothing he had said was technically a lie, it _was_ skirting the edges.

Ayumi-san regarded the two boys seriously for a long moment. Kouichi met her gaze without flinching, and Kouji kept his face the bland mask he had used so often before he'd met the other legendary warriors when she turned her look on him. Apparently satisfied with whatever she saw in their expressions, she nodded.

"Very well." Leaning a little farther forward on the arm rest, she swung her gaze around to include Izumi, who had managed to clear her expression. "I assume you invited your brother and your friend over here to plan how to introduce him to your mother again. Right, Kouichi-kun?"

Kouichi answered in the affirmative as Kouji and Izumi nodded.

"Well then," Ayumi-san said, "these scribblings must be your attempts to find a time that works, right?"

"They are," Kouji spoke this time, drawing Ayumi-san's attention. He snagged a slightly neater sheet of paper and handed it to her. "That's what we've come up with so far, but we still don't know how to…" Kouji frowned. How did you phrase something like this?

"How to reintroduce yourself to your mother?" Ayumi-san suggested. "Without giving her a heart attack by showing up out of no where?"

Izumi and Kouichi both snickered quietly, while Kouji glared at them both. "Yes," he ground out. It was as good a way to put it as any, but it _wasn't_ funny. He'd thought his mother was dead until Duskmon had told him differently. Kouji just couldn't find anything funny in this situation. Ayumi-san seemed to sense this, because she smiled gently at him.

"Calm down, Kouji-kun," she told him, while the other two swallowed their amusement. "I think I have an idea for you two – three – to consider." Her gaze went to the elder twin. "You do remember you have to take your year-end exams soon, Kouichi-kun?"

Kouichi eyes widened. "Oh no," he groaned. "I completely forgot. Aren't they supposed to be in a few days?"

"Day after tomorrow," Ayumi-san confirmed brightly.

Izumi and Kouji traded confused looks.

"But…" the warrior of wind ventured. "School let out a couple weeks ago. Shouldn't you have taken them already?"

Kouichi nodded, running a frustrated hand through his hair. "I should have, but Grandma's funeral was the same day as the beginning of the tests, and I'd been out of school for a few days before then, helping Mom with the preparations for the funeral." He made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat. "Fukui-sensei agreed to let me take them over the spring break, but it has to be soon, because the administration needs at least a week to grade them, and school starts again in just under two weeks. I can't advance if they don't have my scores. But Dr. Wakahisa doesn't want me doing anything but resting for another five days…"

"It's not as hopeless as all that, Kouichi-kun," Ayumi-san said cheerfully, earning herself three skeptical looks from the children in the room. "I'm sure Fukui-sensei will be kind enough to let you postpone it another few days. Fukui-sensei and your mother deliberately scheduled the tests with some wiggle-room. And this might be best after all."

"How is this best?" Kouji asked skeptically, exchanging baffled looks with his brother and Izumi. They'd just added another day that wouldn't work for meeting his mother onto their list. If they weren't careful, the planned meeting wouldn't take place until after school had already started again, and that would be infinitely more complicated.

"Kouichi-kun, refresh my memory. Did your mother promise to take you out to wherever you wanted to go after your exams, or did she not?"

Kouichi's eyes widened as he seemed to understand what the woman was getting at. Kouji wished one of them would clue Izumi and him in. This was getting ridiculous. "Yes, she did. She said I could pick a restaurant, or a movie or whatever I wanted to do that day, after I took the tests…"

Kouji blinked and Izumi clapped excitedly as they both understood what the other two had been hinting at. Ayumi-san folded her arms across her chest triumphantly.

"Tell your mother you want to go for a picnic. There's a nice park not too far from the school." One hand freed itself to point at Kouji. "You, young man, can hide yourself in the trees or bushes close to wherever you two decide on." The hand swung to indicate Kouichi. "Then your twin tells Tomoko-chan he wants to show her something, and would she please close her eyes."

"And then I come out of hiding," Kouji finished, feeling a small smile start. Kouichi grinned at him while Izumi giggled.

"You could switch places, even!" she exclaimed. "Kouichi can stand in front of his mother while he says this, and when she closes her eyes, you can switch with him, Kouji!"

"I'll get behind Mom, or to the side, instead of in front," Kouichi contributed. "And you can be in front of her like I was…"

* * *

Ayumi smiled as the three children excitedly planned every last move of the reunion. Who would have thought the twins would have found each other again after so long apart? This would likely be a little awkward to start, but that wasn't such a bad thing. Many good things in life were awkward to start with. That was what made them such treasures later on, in Ayumi's opinion.

_Though I do wonder how Orimoto-chan got involved in this. Where and when did she meet the boys, I wonder?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayumi-san is perhaps one of my favorite OCs. I have yet to figure out why, since some of my others are a lot more fun to write. She's managed to find a special place in my imagination anyway. 
> 
> Also, the thump she hears? 
> 
> Yeah, that was Kouji, misjudging the distance between the back of the couch and the wall when he jumped over it to hide. And Izumi "falling" to cover his noise. *grins*


	8. Finishing Touches

A gentle breeze ruffled the leaves of the trees in the park. The sun, not yet at its mid-day high, warmed the air just enough to make the morning perfect for strolls and picnics. Many people had chosen this morning to meet friends or classmates for a day of fun without having to worry about classes the next day.

Of course, two of those who had chosen this morning to meet had larger things on their minds.

"You're _sure_ you can see me?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Are you-"

"Don't even start that, Takuya."

Sighing heavily, Takuya stood up and glared halfheartedly at Kouji, who was lounging against a picnic table, glaring mildly at the goggle wearing boy.

"Okay, then, smart guy, _you_ find this perfect hiding spot."

Kouji glare dropped and he smirked as he stood upright again. "I already did." Leaving Takuya standing there gaping after him, he disappeared between two of the trees, turned left, and was promptly lost to Takuya's sight. The warrior of fire frowned and stared intently at where he _thought_ Kouji had gone, finding not even a hint of the other boy's blue bandana amongst the green of the trees and bushes.

"Ooo….kay…" he said to himself. "So he's obviously not lost anything he learned about stealth in the Digital World…" Backing up slightly, he expanded the area of his search, looking for anything that might give away his friend's position.

Several long moments of fruitless searching later, Takuya admitted defeat. "Okay, already, Kouji! I believe you. If I can't find you when I _know_ you're somewhere over there, your Mom's not gonna be able to, for sure!"

A low-hanging branch was pushed to one side, and Kouji ducked into the clearing again, a very small snicker audible in his voice. "That is the point, Takuya. No one's supposed to see me until Kouichi gives the signal."

"What did you guys decide on, anyway?" Takuya asked as he hopped up onto the bench of the table, using it as a foot rest as he sat on the actual table. Kouji swung one leg over the bench and straddled it as he sat.

"We decided it'd be best to keep it simple. When Kouichi and…our mother get here, he'll tell her that he has a special treat for her too, and that's when he'll ask her to close her eyes."

Takuya nodded. "And then you switch places with him, right?"

"Yes." Kouji swept his gaze around their corner of the park, his expression the blank mask that Takuya had come to understand as Kouji hiding a strong emotion. Deciding to let Kouji admit to whatever it was on his own time, Takuya picked a topic he hoped wouldn't set off his friend's temper.

"So, when's Kouichi gonna be meeting your Dad?"

Kouji stiffened slightly, and his expression bounced back and forth between scorn and confusion before settling for an odd mix of both as Kouji refused to look Takuya in the eye.

"I haven't even told him I know about Kouichi and Mom yet."

"Why not?" Takuya exclaimed. "I mean, did you think you could keep it a secret or something? I'm sure Kouichi wants to meet your Dad as much as you want to meet your Mom!"

Kouji glared up into the other boy's incredulous expression. "I thought Mom was _dead_ because that's what Dad told me, Takuya! He never even mentioned I had a brother somewhere. Kouichi might as well never have existed!"

Takuya leaned forward, matching Kouji glare for glare. "Did you ever think maybe it was too painful for him to mention Kouichi? That it was easier to pretend your Mom was dead and that he only _had_ one son than live with the fact that he'd never see Kouichi again?"

Kouji snorted, scorn filling the sound as it hadn't since those first weeks in the Digital World. "You're really an idiot, Takuya."

Takuya huffed, annoyed and obscurely amused. Wasn't Kouji usually the one pounding logic into Takuya's head? When had it turned around? Well, aside from that argument in the Dark Area before they'd purified Kouichi of the twisted Spirits of Darkness…

"Kouji, just…" inspiration struck, as Takuya remembered his father's sad expression around a very specific time of the year. "Has your Dad ever been…I don't know…weird at certain points of the year? Like he was missing something?"

Kouji's expression said more than words about his opinion of Takuya's current level of sanity. Takuya rolled his eyes. "I know it sounds odd. Just humor me. Has he?"

Sighing, Kouji nodded after a few moments of reflection. "He's not an outgoing personality even on his best days, but he's always…oddly quiet for a few days right before and after the anniversary…his second anniversary, I mean, with Satome-san."

Seeing Kouji still wasn't putting the pieces together, Takuya prodded his friend's stubborn mental processes. "And didn't you tell me that the anniversary of the divorce was sometime around this time too?"

"Kouichi said it was yesterday, why…" Kouji's eyes widened as he made the connection. "You think he's like that because of…of Kouichi?"

 _And maybe your Mom too, but I'm_ so _not going there,_ Takuya thought wryly. "Maybe. But it sure sounds like it to me. Look, Kouji, you didn't grow up with your brother, so you haven't seen this, but trust me, fathers are always worried when one of their sons is somewhere that they can't help them. My dad always acts weird around the first week of October, because he's remembering not being able to help Shinya when he was really little - I was even younger than Tomoki is now, so Shinya was maybe two - and in the hospital. Your brother's been where your dad can't help him for _nine years._ I'd say he worries all the time."

Kouji's expression didn't look convinced, but at least it wasn't so openly scornful anymore. Maybe he'd actually listen when he finally confronted his dad about the lies?

"Come on, buddy," Takuya said suddenly, jumping off the picnic table. "Let's find out where the heck Junpei, Izumi and Tomoki got to and find some lunch! I'm starving!"

"You're always hungry," Kouji grumbled, but it was with a smile as he got to his own feet and followed the goggle-wearing boy from the small, peaceful corner of the park.

* * *

They heard the other three legendary warriors before they saw them. Exchanging looks, Kouji and Takuya almost unconsciously dropped into a quiet stalk as they approached their oblivious friends.

"I said _no,_ Junpei! We are _not_ going! And that's the end of it!"

"Oh, come on, Izumi! You said yourself he was doing really well when you saw him yesterday. Just a short visit?"

"Please, Izumi? We just want to see him, too. He's our friend!"

"You can see him when he's all better, not before! Kouji and I only went because we had to plan the reunion!"

Takuya smothered a snicker with his shirt-sleeve and Kouji rolled his eyes.

"And that obviously didn't tax his energy any, so what's the problem?"

"He was washing dishes when you got there!"

"That doesn't mean he _should have been._ And we are _not going!"_

Grinning at each other, Takuya and Kouji both broke cover. Takuya playfully threw an arm each over Junpei's and Tomoki's shoulders, startling both of the other boys into small jumps and stifled yelps. "So!" he said cheerfully, "where aren't we going?"

"Takuya!" Junpei half-snarled, shrugging out of the younger boy's grip. "Don't startle me like that! I almost Lightning Blitz-ed your…" he trailed off, an expression of sudden realization and sorrow crossing his face.

All five of the legendary warriors blinked at each other and shuffled their feet awkwardly.

"Um…" It was the youngest of them all who first braved the strained silence. "Kouji, would you mind if we visited Kouichi? I mean, I know you and Izumi both told us he was getting better, but he's our friend too and-"

"We are NOT going!" Izumi fairly exploded, melancholy forgotten in the rush of returning protective instincts. "He needs to _rest!_ And Kouji and I were lucky yesterday that it wasn't Kimura-san who caught us! We _don't_ need to try it twice."

"You know, I do really love it when I win bets with myself."

The unexpected adult voice startled everyone but Izumi and Kouji into yelps and squeaks. Izumi and Kouji simply traded apprehensive looks.

"A-ayumi-san," Izumi stuttered out. "What are you doing here?"

The trauma nurse stood behind them, dressed in her hospital scrubs and the same sensible shoes she'd been wearing yesterday, grinning.

"Settling arguments on my lunch break, apparently," the woman said, waving a hand flippantly.

Kouji felt his eyes narrowing. "Why?" he asked bluntly. Ayumi-san was far too observant for his liking. And just how much of their conversation had she overheard? There wasn't an easy way to explain the Digital World to someone who hadn't experienced it for themselves.

Ayumi's expression shifted into something that might have been called fond exasperation if it had been on his father's face. Or even his step-mother's. But Ayumi-san didn't know him like that…

Except, she had at one point, hadn't she? Kouichi had said this was the woman who babysat him when he was a toddler, and for a while, that would have meant babysitting the both of them…

"Because I know Kouichi-kun too well to believe he'll stay happily on that couch studying for his tests. And he only has so many books and puzzles to occupy him when he isn't studying. A break should be just the thing he needs right now."

Casually strolling past the stunned group, she winked at Izumi. "Tomoko-chan will be talking with Fukui-sensei about Kouichi-kun's tests for about a half-hour and I plan on waylaying her for some much needed decompression coffee before she checks on Kouichi-kun and heads back to work. It should take about an hour. She certainly wouldn't know there was anyone extra at her apartment if those people were gone within the hour…"

Strolling away, the woman started to whistle a happy tune.

Four friends exchanged glances and turned at almost the exact same time to stare at the fifth member of their group.

Kouji rolled his eyes and started walking in the opposite direction Ayumi-san had taken. "We're only staying for a half-hour at the most. Then we're _leaving._ Kouichi does need to rest."

"Yes!" Junpei and Tomoki exchanged a victorious high-five.

"Did you guys even get your part done, or did you spend the whole time arguing about whether or not to visit my brother?" The irritated boy tossed over his shoulder.

"Oh!" Tomoki squealed, excitement making him bounce. "We found the perfect thing!"

"The squirt's been full of good ideas the past couple days," Junpei put in, grinning.

Kouji listened as he walked and found a grin growing on his face. He'd been a little irritated that morning, when Junpei and Tomoki had shown up along with Takuya and Izumi. But the only girl in their group had latched onto the other two boys with a vengeance and dragged them off on a quest of her own, despite Kouji's protests.

And now, listening to the results of that quest, Kouji found he liked the results.

He rather thought Kouichi would like it too.

* * *

Kouichi sighed as he turned a page in his science book, listlessly reading the review questions of the chapter he'd just finished reading for the second time. Science wasn't something he really excelled in, but he found it interesting all the same.

Today, however, he just couldn't get his mind to focus on the information in the book.

_I wonder if Kouji's found a good spot yet? It has to be somewhere with trees or bushes around, so he can hide close enough to hear when I give him the signal, and it can't be too secluded, at the same time, cause then Mom would figure out something was up…Maybe I should have tried harder to convince them to let me come along. I do know that park better than they do…_

His mother's drawn and pale face as she rushed into his recovery room at the care center flashed across Kouichi's mind and he winced.

 _Okay, so no. That would have been a bad idea. I don't need to lie to Mom any more than I have been and I promised to stay on the couch if at all possible._ A small smile turned up the corners of his lips. _And besides, Ayumi-san would_ know _I'd left the apartment, somehow. She always could catch me out, even when Mom or Grandma couldn't._

Sighing once again, Kouichi turned back to his textbook. He really needed to concentrate; his tests weren't _that_ far off and enough rules were being bent for him as it was.

The next five minutes were spent in studious review, until the knock on the door interrupted his concentration.

"Who is that?" Kouichi wondered, blinking as he glanced in the direction of the door. "Kouji said he'd call when they found something, not come over, and Ayumi-san and Mom both have keys…"

Setting aside his textbook and the notebook he'd been taking notes in, Kouichi stood up and made his way to the door. Unlocking and opening the door, the young boy was startled to find his brother and his friends on the other side of the door.

"Kouji! Takuya!" he exclaimed, confused but pleased, opening the door wider to let them in. "Izumi…everyone…what are you doing here?"

Junpei grinned at him, slinging a friendly arm around his shoulders. "Making sure you're really recovering as well as Kouji and Izumi said you were, of course! I _am_ the oldest, gotta make sure all you young ones are taking care of yourselves properly."

Kouichi felt a grin starting to spread on his face as Takuya and Izumi immediately took exception to Junpei's statement and a good-natured argument broke out in the entrance way of his apartment.

Kouji rolled his eyes, skirting around the three-way discussion and managed to get to his brother's side as Kouichi slid away from Junpei's hold, still grinning. "Ayumi-san found us in the park and informed us Mom won't be here to check on you for another hour and a half or so and we were clear for at least an hour if we wanted to come see you."

Tomoki, who had managed to wriggle his way past the argument as well, grinned up at the eldest twin. "She also said something about you getting bored with studying and needing a break. Are your tests gonna be really hard?"

Kouichi shook his head. "I don't think so, but I do have to review for them, or I won't do as well. Ayumi-san is right though, I was getting bored." Feeling his smile start again, he tilted his head in the direction of the living room. "Why don't we go sit down and let them work out their argument on their own?"

"And see how long it takes them to notice we're not in the same room anymore?" Kouji murmured, just loud enough to be heard, smirk small but visible on his face. Kouichi and Tomoki snickered before following the other boy into the other room. "Tomoki and I have something to show you, anyway, Kouichi," he continued, while Tomoki started to bounce with excitement again.

* * *

Five minutes later, Kouji had been proved correct. The elder twin did like the surprise Tomoki, Junpei and Izumi had found.

And Kouichi knew their mother would love it.

All they had to do now was wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takuya may or may not be right about Kousei's motives. Yes, I'm being mean having Kouji still have issues with his dad, but I believe this to be a plausible extension of canon. We see him starting to improve his relationship with his step-mother. Not with his father. Kousei lied to him about a very important topic; that will leave issues that need to be sorted out. (Though they kind of explode in the process...)
> 
> Since I have the chance to make things clear here, let me clarify. One of my reviewers on fanfiction - the lovely Miss Anonymous hp - made a very valid point in her review about the way Kousei is portrayed vs. how Tomoko is. Kousei DOES get a lot of "bad press" for lack of a better term and Tomoko seems to come off as the wronged party. This is not true, nor is it what I think happened. Most of the story so far - and for most of the rest of it - is told from Kouji's POV. He is NOT a trustworthy narrator on the topic of his parents' divorce and his father's guilt or lack thereof. Kouichi, likewise, is not a trustworthy narrator for his mother's guilt or lack thereof. Both of them are more likely to be sympathetic towards their mother than not, and Kouichi - in my view, at least - is more likely to be mature about these reunions than Kouji is. Please bear with me and the characters as the story progresses. Tomoko will have just as much to explain as Kousei does, but the twins' father is the first to be called to account.
> 
> And, on a completely unrelated note, I don't think I realized quite how LONG this story was, until I started transferring it over here...I've passed the half-way mark, at least!


	9. Now or Never

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kouji meets his mother: Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I cannot be concise unless given a strict word limit...this first reunion is told in three parts.

Kouichi shifted a bit in his seat, trying to focus on the instructions Fukui-sensei was giving him. It would only be three hours before he was done, sooner if he finished an exam early, and then he could take his mother to the park and they would meet with –

"Kimura-kun?"

Kouichi jumped, flushing in embarrassment. "Y-yes, sensei? I'm sorry, I was…a bit distracted."

The gray-haired woman, the veteran of more years of teaching young men and women to use their brains than she wanted to admit, frowned worriedly at the boy sitting in her classroom.

"Are you sure you've recovered enough for this, Kimura-kun?" She bent down a bit to get a better look at his face, critically examining him for signs of exhaustion, fever, or any other sign of fatigue that would deem this make-up exam a bad idea. Kouichi nodded fervently, meeting her eyes with determination.

"Yes, I'm fine, Fukui-sensei." He shook himself and straightened in his seat. "I was just thinking about how long the exam will take."

The woman smiled indulgently at the young boy and shook her head, standing straight again. "Take all the time you need, Kimura-kun. You're well enough to take the exams, but you still have an extra hour if you need it."

Kouichi blinked, taken aback at this information. "Fukui-sensei? An hour more?"

"Yes, Kimura-kun. An hour more. You were gravely injured barely a week ago. You still don't need a lot of stress and the school board understands that." She smiled proudly at her student. "I have every confidence that you won't need any extra time, Kimura-kun, but it is there so don't push yourself." Clapping her hands together, she strode back to her desk. "Are you ready, now?"

Kouichi smiled. "Yes, ma'am."

"Then begin."

* * *

Kouji sat on the bench in the clearing where he was to meet his twin and his mother in just a short hour's time, and tried not to let his anxiety get to him.

_What if she doesn't want to see me?_

One hand yanked off a blue bandana to allow the other to run through his hair in frustration. He had to trust his brother's judgment in this area. He didn't remember his mother and had no real stories to analyze and with which to venture a guess. She wanted to see him. She missed her youngest son and would be ecstatic to see him again. Kouichi had been sure.

But his doubts wouldn't be so easily silenced.

_What if they can't come?_

Kouji breathed deeply, recalling Kouichi's calm voice laying out their plan in minute detail. He determinedly retied the bandana, eyes firmly closed. That attention to detail was something they shared, beyond the obvious of their looks and parentage. Every movement of this day had been planned and dissected for issues or complications. Nothing would go wrong.

_What do I say to her?_

Breathing out slowly, Kouji clasped his hands together in front of him, resting his elbows on his bent knees as he opened his eyes once more. He stared at his hands, suddenly wishing for Lobomon's sword, or a good sturdy staff. Working through his worry with physical exercise was extremely appealing right now. But he didn't have his D-Tector anymore, and so Lobomon's sword was out, and a staff was equally out of his reach at the moment. And so here he sat, starting at his hands and trying not to think about what might go wrong with this meeting. And so it was he heard the faint rustle of the grass that indicated someone coming up behind him.

Kouji didn't even look up from his interlaced fingers as he spoke.

"Don't even try it, Junpei."

A disappointed groan sounded behind and to the left of the warrior of light, causing Kouji's contemplative look to morph into a smirk for the briefest of seconds.

"Man, every time! How do you do that?" Junpei scowled in mock anger as he plopped down on the bench next to Kouji. "I thought it was just that you were on high alert all the time in the Digital World, but you catch me here too!"

Kouji shrugged, unconcerned with Junpei's ire. He had learned not to take Junpei's expressed anger or frustration seriously in the Digital World. He was an aspiring magician; the limelight was something he craved. It was when the older boy became quiet and still that it was time to worry. It was then that the warrior of thunder was the most dangerous, because not only was he focused at those moments, he was simply waiting for the right target upon which to unleash his anger.

"I've been taking self-defense lessons since I was seven, Junpei. Awareness of your surroundings is a big part of it. You have to know what's going on around you to be able to defend yourself."

"Guess that makes sense," the older boy shrugged in his own turn. Junpei cocked his head as he regarded Kouji. "So. How you holding up, man? Excited?"

Kouji briefly considered not answering, but then reluctantly shook off the impulse to hide his feelings. He might be closer to Takuya and Kouichi, but Junpei was the most like him in temperament. They both put more thought into their actions than Takuya was liable to do in most circumstances. Junpei was the more outgoing personality, but neither boy was as reserved as Kouichi was. They had both grown up as only children, and while Izumi could share that distinction with them, she was a girl and Kouji was fairly certain that was a significant difference in their situations – he just wasn't sure how. Junpei might actually be the best person to talk to about this situation, for all he didn't have any siblings.

"Nervous," he allowed in a quiet voice, glancing to the side to meet his friend's gaze. "I know we've planned this out to the smallest detail, but I still feel nervous." Petrified was more like it, but there were some things that were never meant to be said aloud. Junpei nodded, serious.

"Understandable." The warrior of thunder shrugged again. "Growing up as an only child, it had to be a shock to find out about Kouichi."

"Something like that," Kouji muttered, a bit wary about where Junpei was heading with that observation. The older boy could be devastatingly accurate with his insights into the people around him when he put some thought into it. And Kouji had a sinking feeling Junpei had been doing nothing but putting thought into this situation for the past week.

"And then finding out about your mom. I can't even imagine what that was like."

Junpei wasn't looking at him anymore, but Kouji could still feel his focused attention and knew the automatic stiffening of his shoulders at the mention of his father's lie hadn't gone unnoticed.

"I really don't want to talk about that, Junpei," Kouji said coldly, trying to bring an end to the conversation. Junpei snorted, shooting a look at the younger boy.

"You wouldn't talk about it with Takuya very much either, but man, you've _got_ to talk about this." Junpei shifted around until he was facing his friend, straddling the bench now. Any discomfort the warrior of thunder might have felt about confronting his friend was buried under genuine concern. "Do you want the first time you really think about this to be when Kouichi asks to meet your dad? Or when your mom asks if your dad knows you're here today?"

Kouji winced despite himself. Junpei pounced.

"Exactly. So, c'mon. Talk."

Sighing, the warrior of light shook his head. "What do you want me to say, Junpei? I _still_ don't know how I feel about it." He stared at his hands, his face almost completely blank of all emotion. "Takuya thinks it was easier for Dad to lie, to pretend Kouichi didn't exist, that…that Mom was dead. And I suppose I can see that, but it _doesn't_ change the fact he lied to me." Anger started to creep into his voice despite his best efforts. "How am I supposed to trust him ever again? He had _no right_ to hide them from me! Kouichi is my twin, and he _knows_ I've always wished I remembered Mom! What possible reason can justify his lying to me about them anyway?"

"There isn't one."

Kouji jerked, startled beyond measure, staring at his friend. Junpei stared back, brown eyes steady and calm.

"There isn't a reason that justifies those lies, Kouji," the warrior of thunder repeated. "You're correct that he didn't have the right to hide those facts from you. At the very least you deserved to know that your mother was still alive and that your brother existed. But," leaning forward, Junpei continued in a voice firm with conviction, and Kouji found himself rooted to the spot, mute, "think about this. Do you have the right to deny Kouichi the opportunity to get to know his dad, just because you're mad at him?"

"I wouldn't-!" Kouji began hotly, before breaking off and glancing away. Junpei's mouth twitched into a sardonic grin.

"You would. You'd be so busy being mad at him that you wouldn't have anything good to say about him to Kouichi and that would poison the relationship before it even got started. Kouichi doesn't know his father. He only knows his twin - who hadn't even known he existed – and his mother – who has struggled to raise him on her own, and has always avoided the topic of his father. Your opinion is what will matter to him, Kouji, Your opinion is what he'll base his expectations on, because he doesn't know the man you call 'Dad', and he trusts your judgment."

Kouji narrowed his eyes at Junpei. "Maybe, but how would you know what Kouichi will base his opinion on anyway?"

"You aren't going to sidetrack me from this, Kouji." Junpei crossed his arms over his chest, staring the other boy down. "I know because Kouichi is _also_ my friend and he needed someone to talk to, since you've been avoiding the subject like the plague."

Kouji arched an eyebrow. "You cornered him too, didn't you?"

Junpei snickered briefly. "Sort of. I asked him if he was as nervous about meeting his father as you are about meeting your mother and he avoided the question, but I did get him to admit that he hadn't thought about it much just yet. You've always wanted to meet your mother and he's managed without his father for as long as he can remember. Arranging this meeting took priority, apparently." Junpei shook his head, before pinning the younger boy to his seat with a look. "I haven't known him as long as I've known you, Kouji, but I know your twin well enough by now to know he's nervous mostly because _you_ don't want to talk about this. If his brother is so nervous that he won't even mention arranging a meeting the other way around, something must be wrong."

"And when did you even _have_ this conversation with Kouichi, anyway?" Kouji demanded, feeling uncomfortable with Junpei's far too accurate summation of the events of the past week. "It's not like we've had very many chances to meet up over the past five days."

Junpei sighed. "The last time we met to put your mom's present together. Now quit avoiding the question."

Kouji looked away, and then shook his head. "I can't just forgive him so easily, Junpei. I just…I want to know _why_ he lied."

"And you can ask him," Junpei said firmly. "But you've gotta come clean about what _you_ know first." The older boy's stern look faded. "Hey, man, I'm not saying don't be angry. Just…be willing to listen, okay? Use that annoyingly practical mind of yours and pull back from being angry for as long as it takes for your dad to explain, huh? Give him a chance. Let Kouichi form his own opinion."

Kouji was silent for a long moment and then he huffed, shoulders rising and falling in a quick movement of exhaled air. "Fine." He glowered at the ground for a second before looking back at his friend. "I'll listen, but I'm not promising anything more than that." Hesitating for only a brief moment, he continued. "And…you're right. Kouichi deserves the chance to get to know Dad the same way I want to get to know Mom. I won't take that from him."

Junpei beamed. "See? I knew that logical mind of yours would kick in sooner or later. It just needed encouragement!" Kouji rolled his eyes at Junpei's turn of phrase and was caught off guard as his cell phone beeped an incoming text message.

_North gate. Three minutes. –T_

Looking up to an expectant Junpei, Kouji shoved the other boy playfully. "Get out of here, chief. We've got three minutes."

Junpei leapt to his feet and started beaming again. "Hey, good luck, man. I'm sure everything will be fine."

Kouji rolled his eyes once more, already heading for his hiding place. "Sure, sure. Now get out of here, Junpei." Just as he reached the trees edging the clearing and Junpei had reached the path leading back to the main areas of the park, Kouji called after his friend. "And, Junpei?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Junpei waved acknowledgment and left. Kouji disappeared into the trees.

All that was left was to wait.

* * *

Kouichi couldn't quite help the stunned look on his face as he stared after his mother's calm walk deeper into the park. He could _not_ have heard what he thought he'd just heard.

"But…but…they said…and…Mom!"

Giggling, Kimura Tomoko glanced at her son over her shoulder, blue eyes bright with laughter. "Oh, calm down, Kouichi. Is it really so surprising to you that Fukui-sensei wants to help you?"

Shaking his head, Kouichi caught up to his mother, still stunned. "That's not it. It's just…she managed to get me an extra hour to take the tests if I needed it and now you're telling me we'll know if I passed or not by tomorrow morning? I thought it would take at least two days to process my results!"

Tomoko smiled gently at her son, placing a calming hand on his shoulder. "That's what normally occurs, yes, but these weren't normal circumstances and your classmates' results have already been processed. Grading three tests hardly takes two days. It's grading multiple tests that requires those two days to process them and then input the results into the school computers." Turning, she started to walk again, this time with Kouichi keeping pace with her. "Fukui-sensei told me all she did was ask for your tests to be graded promptly after their submission so your schedule for next year can be arranged with the minimum of fuss."

Kouichi shook his head again, grateful for all that Fukui-sensei had done for him, and still a bit stunned despite himself. "I didn't ask her to go out of her way to help with the tests."

"Which is why she did it, Kouichi." A look of quiet pride had taken up residence on his mother's face, and Kouichi felt himself blushing in response. "You _don't_ ask anyone to give you special considerations, and you work hard for what you have." She pulled Kouichi into a quick hug, squeezing once before letting go. "You've grown into such a responsible young man, and I couldn't be prouder of you."

Still blushing, Kouichi glanced ahead and felt his breath catch in his throat as he saw the back of Junpei's distinctive blue jumpsuit disappearing around a turn in the path ahead of them.

Takuya must have managed to spot them and pass the word along even though Kouichi hadn't seen the other boy. Kouji would already be in place then. Good.

Now for his part.

"Hey, Mom?" Kouichi glanced back at her after making sure the bench was in sight from their position. "Can we go sit somewhere? I'm a bit tired."

"Of course, Kouichi. Look, there's a bench just over there."

With his mother regarding him critically, Kouichi just smiled. "I'm fine, Mom. I just want to sit for a bit. I also…" he swallowed hard, anticipation making it hard to speak for a moment. He'd been waiting for this day for over a week now. His mother deserved more happiness than she received. Especially after such a trying few months. "I also want to show you something. A surprise."

As they entered the clearing and made for the bench, his mother cast him a curious look. "A surprise? Whatever for, Kouichi?" She reached out a hand and brushed some of his hair out of his face. "Your recovery is all I could ask for. You didn't need to get me anything."

Kouichi heard the faint sadness in her voice – the closest she ever came to showing disapproval over money spent on gifts for her while their finances were so tight. He shook his head. "I didn't _buy_ you anything, Mom. It's a different kind of surprise."

Smiling slightly, the single mother nodded her consent. "Alright then. What's this surprise?"

Moving closer to his mother, Kouichi took her hands and gently pulled her around to stand with her back to the bench. "I couldn't wrap this present, so you have to close your eyes."

"Alright." Still smiling, and becoming curious seemingly despite herself, Kimura Tomoko closed her eyes. "Just what is this all about, Kouichi?"

Feeling his own smile start to creep over his face, Kouichi let go of her hands, stepping back and to the side. "It's to say thank you for all you've done raising me. I know it can't have been easy. And these last few months have been hard on both of us. I think you deserve for something good to happen after all that." One hand moved behind his back to make a _come on_ gesture, even though he knew his mother couldn't see it anyway. "And I thought today would be a good day to show you my surprise."

Kouji emerged silently from his hiding spot, apprehension and anticipation warring with each other in his expression before he took a deep breath and traded places with Kouichi. The elder twin moved behind their mother, placing his hands on her arm, still speaking.

"I think you'll love this surprise, Mom," he said, speaking equally to his nervous brother and his curious mother. "Open your eyes."

Still smiling, the twins' mother did as she was bid and froze, eyes widening in shock. Her astonished gaze skipped to her left, to see Kouichi standing there, hands still on her arm, and then back to the nervous looking double of her eldest son standing in front of her, smiling uncertainly.

" _Kouji."_

Kouichi held his breath as his mother reached a tentative hand out to his brother, to be met halfway there with Kouji's own hand.

"M-Mom," the younger twin managed, making a valiant effort not to fidget. His mother's eyes filled with joyful tears and she clutched both of Kouji's hands between her own.

"My son…oh Kouji." Moving slowly, as if afraid of his disappearing or rejecting her touch, Tomoko drew Kouji into a hug. Kouichi's grin became wider as the apprehension and fear his brother had been carrying around for the past few days evaporated as he allowed their mother to embrace him, somewhat hesitantly wrapping his own arms around her waist. "I thought I'd never see you again."

Kouji didn't say anything, and Kouichi was fairly certain the reason was because his younger twin didn't want to start crying in front of their mother. The elder twin knew _his_ throat was tight with unshed tears.

"Kouichi."

His mother's voice, gently scolding, caused Kouichi to look up into his mother's face. "You weren't tired at all, were you, young man?"

Grinning widely, not the least repentant, Kouichi shook his head. "No, ma'am," he replied. Tomoko laughed and held out an arm to him.

"Get over here, trouble maker," she ordered him, laughing. "I want to hold _both_ of my boys."

As Kouichi joined in the hug, a weight he hadn't known he had been carrying lifted from his shoulders. His mother was truly happy, finally, and with Kouji, they could be a family again.

Suddenly all the worry and frustration and obstacles he and his friends had gone through to make this reunion a reality was worth it.

 _Anything_ was worth seeing his mother this happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why I am not concise with the mother/son reunion: Junpei's intervention. It was supposed to be an amusing couple paragraphs of Junpei distracting Kouji. It did not stay that way. So...split number one. Reason number two why I am not concise opens the next chapter.
> 
> Also, Junpei's nickname for Kouji is too good for me NOT to have found a way to get it in this chapter somewhere. I am very happy it worked its way in naturally.


	10. Healing Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kouji meets his mother: Part II

Kimura Tomoko wasn't sure what to feel when she woke up that morning, one day over a week from the evening her world had almost ended for good. For a moment she simply lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling, but not truly seeing it. Her mind was far away. It had traveled into the past without her conscious consent and she had no way to stop it.

" _I'm sorry, Kimura-san, but your mother's tumor is inoperable. Maybe if it had been detected sooner, there would have been a chance, but now…removing it would kill her, given its size and location. It's astonishing she's held on as long as she has, but…I'm afraid she won't last much longer. I estimate she has a month, at the most." the doctor shook his head, professionally regretful, but not truly connecting with the stunned and desperately frightened woman in front of him. He couldn't afford to do so and function in his job. Tomoko knew that. She worked in a hospital herself. If the doctors and nurses couldn't distance themselves from the sorrow and despair of the knowledge that they couldn't save every patient, they would break within a month._

_She still hated him for sounding so distant when the woman who had been her support for her entire life was dying in a hospital room not a hundred feet from them._

In her bed, in her own home, that once furious daughter squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to cry. The loss of her mother still hurt, would always sting as if she had been stabbed through the heart, but it was no longer the driving force of her day to day existence. Had never been really. She couldn't afford to fall apart with Kouichi depending on her to be strong for him. He had lost one of his main sources of support as well. They had always been close, her mother and her eldest – her only remaining – son.

As if the thought had conjured it, Tomoko's mind jumped to a much more recent conversation with yet another doctor.

" _I feel I must inform you, Kimura-san," Dr. Wakahisa said, hesitating as he shuffled through paperwork to find the forms he needed her to sign. "It was…a struggle to save your son. I wasn't sure we_ could _save him, for a few minutes." Solemn eyes turned to her suddenly ghost-pale face. "He'll recover now, Kimura-san, but it was a close thing. Had things not…well," he shook his head. "You will need to watch him carefully for the next week or so, just as a precaution."_

_Horrified, Tomoko almost couldn't speak as she woodenly accepted the paperwork from Dr. Wakahisa. "I…he almost…but…"_

_The older man sighed, running a weary hand through his hair in the most humanizing gesture Tomoko had ever seen from a doctor relaying bad news. For some obscure reason, this made her feel better._

" _Your son has a remarkable will, Kimura-san. He's a very determined young man. I believe that – more than anything we did – is what saved his life today. You should be proud of him."_

 _Tears standing in her eyes, Tomoko mechanically filled out the paperwork, her hand shaking only slightly as she signed her name. "…I am…_ so _proud, of how he's grown up."_

Suddenly unable to lie in bed any longer, Tomoko rose and completed her morning routine more quickly than she had ever done. She was showered, dressed and ready for the day in ten minutes, but she found herself pausing outside the door to her son's room and could not resist peeking in to check on him before continuing on her way to make breakfast.

But once she saw her son – her blessedly _alive_ son – she found she couldn't move.

Kouichi laid sprawled half on his stomach, mouth slightly open. He was breathing heavily, but not _quite_ snoring, in the way he'd had ever since he had been an infant. His hair, slightly shaggy at the best of times, was haphazardly spread across his pillow and his face, nearly equally. It didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. However, his nose twitched every so often, as if he were subconsciously trying to move that stubborn piece of hair that was _just_ long enough to touch the tip of his nose and Tomoko felt the fear Dr. Wakahisa's remembered confession had invoked in her fade. Her baby was safe and sound, alive and well on his way to being healthy again. What more could she ask for?

Tomoko's mouth twitched into a gentle smile as Kouichi rolled over to his back, one leg ending up hanging over the edge of his bed as he did so, and hopelessly tangling his sheets around him in the process.

That smile became a gentle laugh as Kouichi's alarm went off, startling the boy into the waking world from whatever dream he'd been having and with a growl, her son smacked the off button and _glared_ at the offending noise maker.

"You _do_ need to get up today, Kouichi," she said, humor still evident in her tone, even as her smile became something more fond than teasing. Kouichi twisted his head around to see her standing in his doorway and he grinned sheepishly, some of his hair falling into his eyes as he did so.

"I know, it's just…" Kouichi sighed, looking strangely melancholy. "I was having the best dream just now…" He grinned at her. "I didn't want to wake up."

Tomoko gave her son a quizzical look, but Kouichi didn't elaborate. She shrugged, allowing him to avoid the subject of what his dream had been. He was more than old enough now to decide to keep some of his dreams to himself, even if she would miss hearing of every amazing new dream her baby boy had in his nighttime adventures through the realm of sleep.

"I'll have breakfast ready in fifteen minutes. Why don't you take a shower and get ready, dear?"

"Sure, Mom." Kouichi started to get up and was prevented as his sheets refused to give up claim on him so easily. He stared at the linen twisted around his legs and torso in confusion for a moment, before sighing and beginning the painstaking process of disentangling himself from them. " _Every_ morning…" his muted grumble reached Tomoko's ears as she turned to continue to the kitchen. "I didn't realize how nice it was not to wake up in a knot every morning…"

Tomoko didn't hear the rest of his sentence as she entered the kitchen finally, but she wondered what he had meant. He had always managed to tangle himself up in his sheets, ever since he had gained the necessary strength and motor control to manage moving on his own as an infant. Even sleep hadn't stopped him from exercising his newfound ability and he had never grown out of the habit of migrating across his bed as he slept.

So when would he not have done so? Even summer wasn't hot enough to encourage sleeping without his sheets over him. So when?

But the question was put aside as Kouichi came barreling into the room just as Tomoko placed the rice on the table, eyes wide, excited and nervous, all at the same time.

"I take my exams today!" The woman raised her eyebrows at her son, confused as to his apparent epiphany. Kouichi flushed a little bit. "Well," he said, "I haven't been able to talk to any of my classmates about if the tests were easy or not. Fukui-sensei said it wouldn't be fair." Kouichi looked up at her with an impish grin, "So, aren't I allowed to be nervous?"

Tomoko laughed. She missed her mother, so badly she could barely breathe at times, but as long as she had Kouichi, she could get by.

* * *

Sitting outside the classroom where Kouichi was diligently bent over his last exam, Tomoko tried to focus on her book. It was a new one, gifted to her by Ayumi-chan just last week. Tomoko rather thought it had been given to her more to distract her from thoughts of her almost loss than out of any true desire Ayumi-chan had to give her friend a gift for no admitted reason, but had not called her long time friend on the issue.

The gesture was appreciated, and the book was one she had been wanting to read, but...

Tomoko's eyes drifted to the door, finding the little window in the top half that allowed her to see her son if she angled her head just right. It should only be another half hour or so before he was finished and then they could both relax. They would go out for lunch, or maybe to the library or a bookstore, to celebrate Kouichi's recovery and completion of his tests, all in one.

Though maybe Kouichi would prefer to go to the park today, Tomoko mused. He had been telling her he was getting a bit tired of only seeing the walls of their apartment every day, all day. She shook her head and smiled. No matter how stir crazy he got, he had obeyed her and stayed inside. He was such a wonderful child and sometimes Tomoko wasn't sure how she had managed to raise such a responsible boy by herself.

"Kimura-san?"

Jumping slightly, Tomoko looked up into Fukui-sensei's politely amused expression. Kouichi was still in the classroom, just visible through the now open doorway, stretching.

"Oh, Fukui-sensei! Done so soon?"

The older woman laughed. "Your son hardly needed any special considerations, Kimura-san," she said fondly, sounding almost as proud of Kouichi as Tomoko was. "We'll have his results by tomorrow morning, but I'm confident he'll pass."

Tomoko blinked in surprise. "Tomorrow morning?"

The veteran teacher nodded. "There's only Kouichi-kun's three tests to grade. It won't take all that long and a friend of mine in administration has promised to place those tests at the top of the priority list." Fukui-sensei grinned conspiratorially as Kouichi passed them on his way to the bathroom, throwing a tired but pleased grin his mother's way as he went. When he was out of ear-shot again, Fukui-sensei continued. "Don't tell him this, but Yoshida-sensei has threatened to resign if Kouichi-kun isn't allowed to advance to the next grade." Screwing up her face, the older woman imitated her younger colleague's deeper tones of irritation. " _There's no question he'll pass. He's a smart kid and holding him back just because he missed the typical deadline for those exams to help his mother plan his own_ grandmother's _funeral is idiocy of the highest order."_

Tomoko flushed and wasn't quite sure what to say. Yoshida-sensei had always been kind to her son, treating him almost as a father would. The man had been Kouichi's teacher for all of a year, but Kouichi had a standing offer to borrow any of Yoshida-sensei's books for personal study, whenever he wanted. These past few months especially, when he hadn't been helping her or out exploring unfamiliar areas of Tokyo, her son could be found absorbed in one of Yoshida-sensei's loaned books, oblivious to the world and its trials for a few precious hours. The news of the man's ultimatum shouldn't have been surprising, but Tomoko still found herself caught off guard by the show of confidence. Fukui-sensei hadn't expected an answer, however, simply smiling at the stunned woman before bowing her farewell and strolling casually towards the school office, Kouichi's tests in hand, humming to herself.

The single mother blinked, shaking off her surprise, and then smiled. _I think I'll wait a bit to tell him about when he'll get his results. The look on his face will be priceless!_

* * *

"But…but…they said…and…Mom!"

Giggling, Tomoko looked over her shoulder at her son, who stood stock still on the park path, gaping at her and attempting to recover his ability for speech.

_I was right! That look is priceless!_

"Oh, calm down, Kouichi," she told her son, managing to restrain her giggles. "Is it really so surprising to you that Fukui-sensei wants to help you?"

Kouichi shook off his confusion and trotted to catch up to her. "That's not it," he told her, his voice honestly confused. Tomoko listened and answered his questions as best she could with only half her attention on her son's words. Even though he'd been recovering so well, and it wasn't immediately apparent he'd taken such a severe tumble down a flight of stairs barely a week ago now, Tomoko still found herself surreptitiously examining him for signs of fatigue or unforeseen complications in his recovery.

She couldn't help it. With the way things had turned out with Kousei…well, Kouichi might as well have been the only son she'd ever had. Tomoko shuddered to think of what she would have done had Kouichi not been saved.

Kouichi's slightly bemused expression recalled her to the conversation. "I didn't ask her to go out of her way to help with the tests."

Tomoko felt her heart warm at the honest confusion in his voice. No, Kouichi never had expected special treatment, even when he deserved such. "Which is why she did it, Kouichi," she told him firmly, proud beyond words of the way he had grown up. "You _don't_ ask anyone to give you special considerations and you work hard for what you have." She pulled her blushing son into a gentle hug, squeezing once before reluctantly letting him go. "You've grown into such a responsible young man, and I couldn't be prouder of you."

Kouichi's flush deepened and he glanced away from her. Tomoko smiled and let him, wistfully wondering if Kouji had turned out even half as well as his brother had.

_I miss you, my baby…_

"Hey, Mom?" Tomoko watched as Kouichi turned back to her with a questioning look. "Can we go sit somewhere? I'm a bit tired."

Tensing slightly, Tomoko scanned the park for a bench or a picnic table. "Of course, Kouichi." When she found what she wanted, she nodded in satisfaction. "Look, there's a bench just over there." As she led her son to the picnic bench she had spotted in a clearing not far away, she regarded him with a critical eye, wondering if coming to the park had been such a good idea after all, promise or not.

Her son knew her too well. He smiled, shaking his head at her. "I'm fine, Mom. I just want to sit for a bit. I also-" he swallowed slightly, betraying his nervousness to a mother's eye, though she couldn't figure out what might have made him so today. "I also want to show you something. A surprise."

Tomoko held back a sigh. "A surprise? Whatever for, Kouichi?" She reached for her son, brushing some of his hair out of his face. "Your recovery is all I could ask for." The woman couldn't quite keep the disappointment out of her voice. Kouichi already knew why she didn't like to make a big deal out of her birthday, or any other gift-giving occasion. Well, aside from his own birthday, but that was different. "You didn't need to get me anything."

Kouichi's smile was knowing and anticipatory. Whatever it was, he was sure she'd like it anyway. "I didn't _buy_ you anything, Mom. It's a different kind of surprise."

They had reached the bench now. "Alright, then," Tomoko said, smiling slightly. If he hadn't bought her something, then what was it? Her curiosity was starting to get the better of her. "What's this surprise?"

Kouichi took her hands and tugged her around until she stood with her back to the bench. "I couldn't wrap this present, so you have to close your eyes."

Tomoko's curiosity was truly roused now. "Alright," she conceded, closing her eyes. They had gift wrap at home. What had he gotten her that couldn't be wrapped? "Just what is this all about, Kouichi?"

Kouichi dropped her hands, and Tomoko let them fall to her sides. He likely needed his hands to retrieve her present. He had planned this from the start, hadn't he? "It's to say thank you for all you've done raising me. I know it can't have been easy. And these last few months have been hard of both of us."

Tomoko couldn't help the thought that passed through her mind at that sentence. _That's a_ bit _of an understatement, Kouichi…_

"I think you deserve for something good to happen after all that." Tomoko felt a pang go through her heart. _Don't you deserve it just as much?_ But her curiosity was getting the better of her. Just what was this present? "And I thought today would be a good day to show you my surprise."

She heard soft footsteps on the grass just before Kouichi's hands gripped her left arm, firm but gentle. "I think you'll love this surprise, Mom," he nearly whispered to her. "Open your eyes."

Smile still in place, Tomoko opened her eyes and forgot how to breathe.

Standing in front of her was an impossible dream.

Long hair pulled back in a low tail, blue and yellow bandana tied casually over his head. Nervous blue eyes the same shade as her own, and a face that was at once both achingly familiar and disturbingly new.

A phantom of her dreams stood before her.

Tomoko darted a half desperate glance to her left side, only to be met with the solid reality of her eldest son, smiling at her with the utmost certainty shining in his eyes. The astonished single mother felt her gaze drawn back to the double of her son standing in front of her, smiling uncertainly now and her breath escaped her in a rush, expelling the one name she'd feared to speak for nine years.

" _Kouji."_

Reaching slowly out to the young boy, Tomoko was becoming more and more convinced of the reality of her situation as her youngest son met her halfway there, bringing both of his hands up to brace her shaking one. Tomoko joined her other hand to the clasp, half-afraid Kouji would disappear if she blinked.

"M-Mom," Kouji said, his voice sounding slightly shaky and entirely wonderful to Tomoko's ears. Joyful tears filled her eyes.

"My son…oh Kouji," Tomoko slowly drew Kouji towards her, wanting desperately to embrace the boy, but afraid of scaring him. He couldn't remember her. He had been too young when she had left. And taken his twin with her. When Kouji allowed himself to be pulled in and even wrapped his own arms around her waist, Tomoko finally allowed herself to believe this was real. "I thought I'd never see you again," she whispered to the boy within her embrace, heart full and throat tight.

Kouji didn't speak again, but burrowed ever so slightly deeper into her arms. Tomoko felt a beaming smile spreading on her face and she glanced over to see her eldest son standing to the side, his expression well satisfied as he watched his mother and brother reunite.

"Kouichi," she called, drawing his attention specifically to her. "You weren't tired at all, were you, young man?"

The blinding grin he gave her wasn't repentant _at all_ and Tomoko could have cared less. She had her Kouji back. A laugh bubbled up her throat and she let it out as she opened one of her arms to him. "Get over here, trouble maker," Tomoko ordered. "I want to hold _both_ my boys."

And as Kouichi came over and Kouji shifted to give his brother room, Tomoko felt a piece of her broken heart start to mend.

She had been given a miracle today.

Kimura Tomoko had finally been reunited with her youngest son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know children's shows have to treat death with a very light hand, so as not to outrage parents and to keep the low rating for their audience. That said, I've always felt that Tomoko losing her mother was glossed over. That was a major upheaval, and only Kouichi seems to get any sympathy or understanding for it. And even then, it's sort of glossed over for him too. This chapter is partly my response to that lack. 
> 
> Kouichi's sleeping habits were inspired by my little sister - with whom I refuse to share a bed unless necessary. It's safer for all involved. ;) His confusion upon waking up in a knot is my nod to his own readjustment to being back in the Real World. There weren't any blankets or sleeping bags in the Digital World, after all.


	11. Explaining the Impossible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kouji meets his mother: Part III

Kouji had been reluctant to leave the shelter of his mother's arms. He'd thought her dead for the majority of his life and even though Kouichi had assured him she was alive, there had always been that lingering doubt in the back of his mind.

_She's not really alive. It's just a fantasy you created to escape the reality of Dad replacing her with another woman. You'll wake up and find it was all a dream, none of it real…Not your friends, not the brother you never knew you had, especially not your mother alive and welcoming you…_

But the solid, warm reality of her arms around him, the slightly shaky voice that had whispered a mother's love into his hair…Those were real. The blinding joy in Kouichi's eyes as he joined in the hug, and his twin's own solid reality pressing against him…

This was real. And no one could take it away from him. Not now. And so he was able to let go of his mother, to smile at her, red dusting his cheeks slightly. He studiously ignored the fact that his eyes were stinging with the effort of holding back tears.

An effort which became considerably easier when Kouichi spoke for the first time since joining the embrace.

"Well, didn't I tell you she'd be happy to see you, Kouji? You worried over nothing!"

Still hyper aware of his mother's presence, Kouji wasn't deterred from shoving his twin playfully. "It's been nine years! How was I supposed to remember enough to agree with you?"

"You didn't trust me?" Kouichi mock-pouted, eyes shining with laughter. "I'm hurt, Kouji!"

"Sure you are," Kouji rolled his eyes. "That's why you keep grinning like a maniac."

The elder twin's grin broke out again, somehow even wider than before. "Can you blame me? It took forever to plan this-"

"Not even a week. We had it all sorted out three days ago."

"Yes, but _I've_ been planning this for far longer. I had to _find_ you first, remember?"

Kouji rolled his eyes. "You didn't even _have_ a plan before you told me." The younger twin paused, throwing a considering look his brother's way. "Or did you ever even _have_ one beyond 'find Kouji'?"

Kouichi flushed and glanced away. "Well…um…I had…that is…"

"I knew it!" Kouji crowed, smirking at his brother. This time Kouichi rolled his eyes and shoved his brother lightly.

Soft laughter broke into their small argument, causing the twins to turn identical looks of confusion to their mother.

"Oh…oh my boys…" Tomoko wiped away a tear of laughter from the corner of her eye, shaking her head. "I've always wished I could see you together as you grew up." Kouji and Kouichi exchanged looks and moved as one to urge their mother to sit on the bench, each one claiming a seat to one side of hers. "And here you two are, arguing and playing as if no time has passed at all, just like when you were toddlers…" Tears filled her eyes again and her voice choked. She lifted one hand to brush aside one of Kouji's side bangs. The younger twin leaned into her touch.

"We're both with you now, Mom," he said quietly, raising one of his own hands to brace hers. Kouichi leaned into her from the other side and smiled up at her.

"I told you that you'd love your surprise, Mom."

"Yes," Tomoko settled her other arm around Kouichi's shoulders, still smiling. "But…how? Kouichi, how did you find out?" Her head turned to between the two of them. "How did you two meet again, Kouji?"

Kouji glanced to his brother and the elder twin nodded solemnly. It was time.

He just hoped their story was good enough.

* * *

Kouichi took a deep breath and firmly held onto his nerves. The largest portion of the tale was his to tell, and so the largest part of the deception had to be his as well. He couldn't tell his mother about the Digital World; not when he couldn't offer proof of its existence to her. But neither did he want to lie to her anymore. Discovering a way to tell the truth while avoiding any mention of the events that had been so instrumental in bringing his brother and him together had been difficult. It was time to see if their story would hold up.

"Do you remember, Mom," he began, voice soft. Tomoko turned her gaze to meet his eyes. "When Grandma was in the hospital, about a week before she died?" The elder twin winced at the pain that flashed through his mother's eyes, but it couldn't be helped. This was where the story started, for Kouji and for him. "It was around three, and the doctor had called you into the hall to talk."

"I remember," Tomoko whispered, her grip tightening on each twin subconsciously. Kouichi swallowed hard against his own grief and forbade the tears to come. Now wasn't the time.

"Well, Grandma woke up a bit more, after you left. She looked at me and said something. I didn't hear what the first time, so I moved closer and she grabbed my hand. She said, 'Kouichi, listen to me, you have to know.'" His eyes darted down, blinking rapidly. It still hurt, remembering his grandmother's last days. The arm around his shoulders tightened comfortingly, and a hand intruded on his vision to grasp his wrist. Looking up, Kouichi met his twin's eyes and smiled slightly in gratitude. "I asked her what I had to know, and she told me that I had a brother. A twin. 'His name is Kouji,' she said."

A slow breath of air against the top of his head and then his mother spoke. "I don't suppose I'm surprised. Mom never did approve of separating you two. I think she took it harder than I did, sometimes."

Both twins shifted, a bit uncomfortable, before Tomoko smiled at the brothers. "It's okay. Go on, Kouichi. What happened then?"

"Well, you came back into the room right around then, so I couldn't really ask more, but I wanted to. I was confused and a little angry." Kouichi flushed. "I couldn't understand why you wouldn't have told me I had a twin. Why Grandma only told me as she was dying."

"It…I…" Kouichi watched as his mother's eyes clouded with pain of a different sort as she tried to find an answer and found himself tongue-tied. He hadn't meant to say that so bluntly. That had been a lot more accusatory than he had meant it to be; more accusatory than he actually felt. Now how was he supposed to tell her he wasn't angry anymore? How was she supposed to believe it even if he could find the words? "Mom…"

* * *

Kouji winced as Kouichi started stumbling over his words, and the hand his mother had settled on his shoulder tightened as if afraid he would run. They had agreed they had to tell their mother as much of the truth as they could, but that didn't mean it wouldn't still hurt her as much as the apparent lie of the Digital World would. This part was supposed to be Kouichi's to tell, but it was obvious his brother didn't know how to continue.

"We know about what the court decided, Mom," Kouji broke into the conversation quietly, but firmly. Two sets of startled blue eyes turned to him. He felt one side of his mouth turn up in a sardonic grin. "Mom, I _know_ you didn't want to leave me behind. Kouichi knows that." He shifted on the bench so he could pin both of his relations with a firm look. "I also know, from what Kouichi has told me, that you haven't forgotten about me either." He plowed on, trying in vain to keep his voice level, but the look of shock on his mother's face was a bit much. At least Kouichi didn't look so stricken anymore. "And I don't know about you, Mom," he said, slightly quieter, "but I've always seen Dad get really quiet, more so than usual, around this time of year. I never knew why until recently." Kouji took a deep breath and met his mother's eyes squarely. "It hurt too much to talk about me, or Dad, didn't it?"

Tomoko slowly nodded her head, eyes wondering. "I…couldn't image how I would go on without both of my boys," she whispered.

Kouji gave her a small smile. "And then a small child's memory must have forgotten his brother," he said, just as soft, nodding at Kouichi, "and you decided it would be cruel to remind him of me."

Kouji watched as his mother took a deep breath and started to speak. "You both were so young," she said quietly, brushing aside some of Kouichi's bangs with a bittersweet smile. "And neither of you understood why your brother was suddenly not there anymore." A subtle shudder wracked her frame and she shook her head. "I thought my heart would break that day, but I was wrong." Tears stood in her eyes. "It broke the first day you woke up, Kouichi, and didn't ask me where Kouji was."

Kouichi swallowed dryly and glanced down, unable to meet his mother's eyes. "I-" he started and had to stop again. He shook his head sharply, sending his hair flying in all directions and looked up again with determination. "It wasn't your fault," the elder twin said firmly. "It…it just happened. And we're together again now."

Tomoko brushed her tears away and nodded in agreement. Curiosity started to shine through the pain still lingering in her expression. "You still haven't explained how you found Kouji."

Kouichi and Kouji traded looks and the younger twin smirked. Tomoko looked on in quiet fascination as a silent debate took place and her eldest son sighed and admitted defeat.

"He never actually told me how he found out where I live," Kouji said, still smirking, "but he pretty much stalked me for about a week and a half."

Tomoko blinked and Kouichi glowered at his brother.

"I didn't know what to say after I did find you!" he protested. "You can't tell me you wouldn't have been freaked out if I'd just walked up to you and said, "hi, I'm your twin that you can't remember. Want to get to know each other?""

Tomoko smothered a laugh. Sometimes, Kouichi made it blindingly obvious who his father was, at least to those who had known the man. Kousei had much the same sarcastic temper when provoked.

"Isn't that just about what you did, anyway?" Kouji responded dryly. Kouichi grumbled but conceded the point.

"How _did_ you tell him, Kouichi?" Tomoko prompted gently. Both boys seemed to have forgotten they were in the middle of an explanation. Two sets of blue eyes snapped to her face and then towards each other, startled.

"Uh…heh." Kouji shrugged his shoulders awkwardly. "He called me."

"You _called_ him?" Tomoko echoed, addressing her eldest with a half-way incredulous and half-way delighted expression on her face. Kouichi nodded, a faint blush staining his cheeks.

"I didn't know how else to get through to him!" he protested weakly. He grinned a bit at his brother. "I still thought he wouldn't believe me, but he did."

Kouji shrugged. "I didn't want to," he admitted in his own turn, gazing somewhat uncertainly at his mother. "It sounded crazy. But Kouichi knew things a complete stranger shouldn't have about my family. Almost everything I've managed to get out of Dad about you," he said quietly. "And he could tell me all of that. And other things I'd never even thought to ask."

"Like your favorite pasta dish," Kouichi put in impishly. Kouji rolled his eyes and Tomoko lightly thumped him in the shoulder, smiling.

"Don't interrupt your brother, Kouichi," she told him. Kouichi just grinned some more. Tomoko turned back to her youngest. "So what then? You believed your brother and…?"

The twins exchanged glances again and Tomoko felt her heart clench, pieces of Kouichi's evasive behavior the past few weeks falling into place and a horrible suspicion arose in her mind.

"Well…" Kouichi was avoiding her gaze, and Kouji didn't seem to want to look at either of them. "I…um…we arranged to meet face to face."

Closing her eyes, Tomoko sighed. "Last week," she said faintly. "Shibuya." Opening her eyes, she fixed the fidgeting boy on her left with a stern look. "You didn't go to a new bookstore at all, did you?"

Kouichi flushed, but met her gaze. "There _is_ a new bookstore there, Mom," he said. Tomoko simply stared at him and he slumped slightly. "No. I didn't actually go there. I went to Shibuya to meet Kouji." He swallowed and managed a tenuous smile at his mother. "I still wasn't quite sure what Kouji thought about all this, though. I was nervous and…I ended up getting there later than I had planned." He rubbed the back of his head self-consciously, just behind his left ear, where he had struck the stairs during his fall. "I missed an elevator and I ran for the stairs and…" he shrugged. "The next thing I remember is waking up in the emergency room with Kouji telling me to come back."

"With _Kouji_ telling you to…" Tomoko swiveled her gaze to her youngest, who also shrugged.

"He was running late. I got worried." Kouji glanced at his brother and then back to her, blue eyes shadowed. "I had asked some friends to come with me, and Takuya got there late too. He said he remembered seeing a boy who looked like me heading for the stairs just as Takuya got on the elevator. We went looking," Kouji glanced down, fists clenching on his lap. "And we found a barricade and a couple of policemen taking statements from some people who had been around when Kouichi fell. They told us where to go and I just took off."

A slightly uncomfortable silence ensued and then Tomoko pulled both boys close for another hug. "Don't ever, _ever_ scare me like that again. Either of you," she whispered fiercely. "I can't handle either of you being hurt, understand?"

Kouichi and Kouji met each other's gaze from within the circle of their mother's arms and nodded in unison.

"We understand, Mom," Kouichi said.

Kouji grinned and pulled back. "You actually met Takuya. Do you remember?"

Tomoko blinked at her youngest. "I did?"

Kouichi giggled suddenly, eyes bright with mirth. "Do you remember the little boy that tripped right onto my lap while we were waiting for the taxi?"

"Tomoki-kun? Of course I do…his brother. _Takuya_ …"

Kouji nodded while Kouichi drew a rumpled scrap of paper out of his pocket. "He slipped this to me, Mom," the elder twin said, grinning. "I talked to Kouji's friends some before last week too, and they were all nice to me. I didn't think they were _this_ determined to be friends with _me_ as well as Kouji, though."

Tomoko took the scrap of paper with its scribbled numbers and times and had to cover a smile as she took note of two familiar names. "They aren't really related, are they?"

"Takuya and Tomoki?" Kouji asked.

"Not a bit," Kouichi added, grinning. "It was _hard_ not to say anything. I didn't have a clue what was on that paper Tomoki slipped me and I _couldn't_ ask without giving away that I knew about Kouji." His smile turned wry. "I wanted this to be a surprise."

Tomoko handed the paper back to her son, smiling. "I'd like to meet your friends properly, this time." Her smile grew. "They're quite the young actors."

Her sons exchanged yet another glance and then both stood, grinning.

Kouichi extended a hand to her as Kouji rummaged in his pocket and came out with a cell phone, typing a quick message in before he hit send. "You can, Mom. Right now. We've got another surprise for you. But this time we actually wrapped it."

Kouji started out of the clearing, only waiting to make sure his brother and mother were following. He smiled over his shoulder at them. "We left it with our friends. I didn't want to leave it in the bushes where I hid, and Kouichi couldn't take it with him to his tests without you seeing it beforehand."

Tomoko followed her sons, feeling happy and content as she hadn't in a long time. "You two didn't have to get me anything special. This has been more than enough."

Her sons responded in unison. "We know."

Well. That was that, wasn't it, Tomoko thought wryly. Her smile seemed to be taking up permanent residence on her face.

She had her sons back, how could she not be happy?

* * *

Tomoki fidgeted and bounced on the balls of his feet, unable to stand still as they waited. Takuya shifted a bit nervously as well, almost constantly sending glances down the path the reunited family would appear on to meet them.

"Guys. Calm down. It's not that big a deal."

Takuya glowered at Junpei, who was sitting on the bench with Izumi, casually shooing curious insects away from the brightly wrapped present sitting on the table.

"You're not the one that lied to her face, Junpei!"

Izumi rolled her eyes. "I'm sure she'll forgive you, Takuya. Calm down. And Tomoki, _please_ quit bouncing, you're going to make me sea-sick."

Tomoki paused for a few moments, looking guilty, before he blinked and rounded on the older girl. "Hey! You don't _get_ sea-sick!"

Izumi smiled. "It got you to focus on something else, didn't it?"

Tomoki opened and closed his mouth several times, unable to come up with a suitable retort. Finally he grinned, and plopped down next to her. "That was sneaky!"

Izumi waved a lazy hand through the air, dismissing the comment. "A girl does what she must."

Takuya and Junpei carefully didn't look at each other, trying to hide their snickers. Izumi loftily pretended to ignore them and Tomoki giggled, finally relaxing.

And none of them noticed the three people who had approached them from behind until a very amused voice spoke.

"So, having fun?"

Tomoki and Izumi squeaked and tried to spin around to look at a grinning Kouichi, ending up getting in each other's way and getting tangled together, Tomoki somehow half-way in Izumi's lap. Junpei and Takuya had managed to spin in opposite directions, avoiding a collision with the other, but their yelps had been just as startled as Izumi and Tomoki's squeaks.

"Kouichi!" Junpei exclaimed, one hand over his pounding heart. "Don't _do_ that!"

"Man," Takuya panted. "You're _quiet,_ you know that?"

"You just weren't paying attention to your surroundings," Kouji put in, stepping up to the bench and taking the present in hand. Takuya froze as he registered the woman standing behind the twins.

"Oh…um…hi, Kimura-san," he managed, while Tomoki tried to disappear behind Izumi once he disentangled himself.

Blue eyes crinkled at him. "I expect a proper introduction this time, young man," she told him.

Flushing madly, Takuya stood and bowed. "Kanbara Takuya, ma'am. I…uh…" he swallowed, managing a slight grin. "I do actually have a little brother. Shinya's even Tomoki's age!"

Tomoki managed not to duck as Tomoko turned to him, bowing in his own turn. "Himi Tomoki," he got out. A smile started to stretch out on his face as he looked up at her. "I have an older brother too, but he's in college."

"I see," Tomoko murmured, finally allowing her smile out. "I want to thank both of you for helping my sons."

"You can also thank Tomoki for the idea for this present, Mom," Kouichi put in from behind the younger boy, who yelped and spun to look up at the older boy. Kouichi smiled at him. "Tomoki had the idea."

"Oh, really?" Tomoko looked between the twins and the younger boy, curious. "What is this present?" She reached out to take it as Kouji presented it to her. Izumi and Junpei vacated their seats, clearing the bench for the older woman and retreating a polite distance to give her some privacy to open the present, taking Takuya and Tomoki with them. Tomoko sat gratefully, unwrapping her present. Kouji and Kouichi waited with bated breath for her reaction.

* * *

She would definitely have to get to know her sons' friends better, Tomoko decided. They all seemed like such dedicated young people. It warmed her heart to know her boys had managed to find friends who had apparently not thought twice about supporting each of them through finding out about a brother each had not remembered he had. Friends like those were rare and to be treasured.

But all thoughts of those other children faded as Tomoko peeled away the last layer of wrapping paper and beheld her gift. With trembling fingers, she reached out to gently trace the old, careworn photographs on the front, one at a time.

The first showed a smiling young woman in hospital robes, holding a red-faced infant with his mouth open in an enormous yawn, dark tufts of hair sticking every which way on his head. One tiny fist rested against the young woman's neck, nearly closed around a loose fall of hair. The other showed a slightly stunned looking young man, perhaps the same age as the woman of the previous picture, holding another red-faced infant, this one with his face screwed up in displeasure at something in his new surroundings.

Tomoko felt her eyes widening with wonder. The first picture was of herself and Kouichi, not long after he had been born – after he and _Kouji_ had been born – and the second was of Kousei and Kouji, after a very amused nurse had handed the newly cleaned and furious infant to his still stunned father. She glanced up at her sons, to find both of them fidgeting slightly as they waited for her reaction.

"Is this…what is this?" she asked, tentatively opening the photo album. "How did you…" Picture after picture, each arranged as the two on the cover had been. One of Kouichi, and a matching one of Kouji, the pictures getting progressively newer as the subjects grew older.

"You got to watch me grow up, Mom," Kouichi said softly. "You didn't get to see Kouji do it."

"Tomoki came up with the idea of a sort of photo book, to show you…what I've done since…then," Kouji said.

Tomoko looked up from staring at a picture of a beaming eight-year-old Kouji, holding a first place trophy triumphantly up in front of him and stared at her eleven-year-old son. "All these pictures…" she started, not sure what she wanted to say after that.

"We've got copies of all of them at home," Kouji said softly. He sat down next to her as Kouichi settled on her other side. "These are for you to keep, Mom."

Tomoko stared back down at the picture and then gently shut the book and embraced Kouji, soft laughter bubbling up in her throat and emerging unchecked from her mouth.

She would _definitely_ have to get to know his friends better, but right now, all she wanted to do was hear the story behind each and every wonderful little gift that had been given to her today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deep, meaningful discussions will occur later. None of them are ready for heavy conversations right now. Enjoy the fluffiness and cute while you can. It goes away next chapter. *evil grin*


	12. Countdown to Confrontation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warm fuzzies have flown the coop. Fair warning, there be arguments and angst ahead.

It was only when the sun had drifted low enough on the horizon to shine directly into his eyes that Kouji noticed how late it was getting. He vaguely remembered Takuya and the others calling their goodbyes some time ago, heading to their own homes and families.

He had been having far too much…fun wasn't the right word, but he felt too happy to want to leave just yet.

"Oh my! Look at the time!"

Kouji watched as his brother looked up from the photo album at their mother's exclamation. Tomoko was staring at her watch in faint shock. Kouichi looked at her and then glanced at the sun before making the connection and his own eyes widened. The elder twin turned towards Kouji, looking concerned.

"Don't you need to be home for dinner?" he asked. Kouji made a face, trying not to resent time itself for intruding on this long-awaited reunion.

"Dinner won't be for another couple hours, but yeah, I should probably head home soon."

Tomoko smiled faintly, some unidentified emotion somewhere between longing and resentment lurking in her eyes. "Then go on home, Kouji. I don't want your father to worry about you."

Kouji shifted, uncomfortable, and stood up. His mother hadn't mentioned his father this entire afternoon. The only times she had come close where when she had come across a photo that depicted not only Kouji at a younger age, but his father as well. She would stare at the picture, momentarily silent, and open her mouth as if to say something, and then close it without a word spoken. It was making him nervous about what had happened to cause his parents to get a divorce. It also made him guiltily glad she had never asked if his father knew where he was today.

It was hard saying goodbye, but Tomoko smiled and hugged him and made him promise to visit as often as he wanted. Then she had backed off, letting the twins say goodbye on their own.

"Well," Kouichi said, "I guess I'll see you later? Tomorrow?"

Kouji shifted his weight from foot to foot, recalling Junpei's words from earlier that day. He'd had his reunion, and even now Kouichi wasn't pushing for his own. That wasn't fair. The younger twin squared his shoulders and gave a slow nod to his brother.

"I'll call if I can't come, but yeah." He glanced away briefly, and then locked gazes with Kouichi. "I'll talk to Dad tonight. You ought to get to meet him, like I did with Mom today."

Kouichi's blue eyes were round and startled. Kouji grinned a little bit. "I mean, I know we can't really surprise him like we did Mom. _I_ don't have any convenient opportunities coming up to get him by himself in a park…"

Kouichi laughed, shoving his brother playfully. "Wise guy. Mom gets off work at seven tomorrow, okay?"

"I'll call, at the very least."

"I know you will." Kouichi hesitated before he continued. "And Kouji…thanks. For…Dad and…I know it makes you nervous-"

Kouji snorted. "Yes, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't ever get to meet him." His eyes lost focus for a moment, pondering. "I don't know when it'll be, but I'll try to make it soon, okay? We might have to wait for a weekend, to make sure he doesn't have work that day."

"That's fine."

There was really nothing more to say after that, and the twins parted ways. Kouji left the park and felt his happy and contented mood evaporate with each step he took away from his twin and his mother.

How was he supposed to even begin talking about this to his father? There was so much about this entire situation that made him mad, and as Junpei had made him see earlier, there was so much that he didn't feel _had_ an explanation. None that would justify the lies anyway. And there was so much that he just didn't know, as well.

Kouji knew his father had lied about his mother and about Kouichi, but what about Satome-san? Had she known? Or had…

Or had Dad lied to her as well? Somehow, Kouji couldn't make himself believe his father _wouldn't_ have lied to his wife too. What was the difference, really? He had gotten rid of most traces of his first wife. If not for the picture on Kouji's nightstand, and a wedding portrait Kouji had found buried in a trunk in the attic when he was ten, he might never have known what his mother actually looked like.

And there _was_ no trace of Kouichi in the house. There were a few suspicious pictures of a dark-haired infant, carefully tucked into corners where they wouldn't be remarked upon, that had initially drawn Kouji's attention in his search for pictures for his mother's present.

They were the only pictures in the house without labels on the back, telling who and where. But Kouji didn't know how to tell the difference between himself and his brother as infants, so he had left the pictures alone, the suspicion ever in the back of his mind.

"Did you have fun with your friends, Kouji?"

"Huh?" Kouji looked up, startled, to find that his feet had taken him through the necessary steps to get home without conscious thought. How he had managed to go through two bus stops and a subway connection without realizing it, he wasn't quite sure. But it had apparently happened since here he was, standing in the front hall of his home, with his step-mother smiling at him from the connecting doorway to the kitchen. "Oh…um, yeah, I had fun."

"I'm glad, Kouji. You haven't spent much time with your peers lately." Satome smiled again and turned to go back into the kitchen and return to the dinner preparations. Kouji suddenly found himself wanting nothing more than to avoid thinking about what would happen when his father got home. He had to have that conversation, but he didn't know how and he needed to know if Satome-san knew about Kouichi and his mother, but he didn't know how to ask in case she _didn't_ and why did he always get himself into these types of situations lately. This was exactly what had landed him in another _world_ , not thinking before he leapt because he just didn't want to _think_ about his father or his step-mother or…

"Do you want some help?"

Satome turned back to blink at him in astonishment and Kouji flushed and muttered some excuse about being useful. She must have accepted it, because she just smiled again and informed him he could wash the vegetables if he really wanted to help.

Maybe doing something with his hands could help him forget about the pain of knowing his father had lied to him, even if only for a little bit.

He'd think about what to say to his father later.

Hopefully he'd have his emotions sorted out before his father came home. If he didn't…well, Kouji didn't want to think about the argument that would cause.

* * *

It was hardly the first time Kouji had helped her in the kitchen, though the last time he had done so willingly he had been nine-years-old and ecstatic about having a "mommy" again, even if she wasn't really Mommy. But now, nearly three years later, it had become so rare for Kouji to spend time in her presence willingly that Satome had stared for a moment when Kouji had offered to help her in preparing dinner. The young boy had flushed and muttered something about being useful and not thinking for a little while.

Satome was certain she hadn't been meant to hear that part. So she pretended she hadn't and set her step-son to the task of cleaning the vegetables she was planning on steaming for dinner. If he needed to talk, he would do it in his own time.

She could be patient.

Patience lasted through two peppers, a cucumber and part of a mushroom. By the time Kouji had moved on to cleaning the dirtied utensils and bowls they wouldn't need later, the young boy had made five aborted attempts at speech and Minamoto Satome finally gave into curiosity and frustration.

She set her knife down suddenly and let the mushroom she had been slicing topple as it liked to the cutting board. Turning, she propped her hands on her hips and fixed Kouji with a stern stare.

"You have never been shy about expressing yourself, Kouji. Just _what_ is bothering you so much you can't decide how to start the conversation?"

Startled blue eyes blinked at her before Kouji glanced away, not quite able to hide the slight scowl on his face in time. Satome felt her heart clench. She had been _so sure_ Kouji was finally coming around to her presence in his life, but the last few days he had been bouncing back and forth from the shyly sweet boy who had offered her flowers last week to the brooding and angry child he had been before then. Satome had no idea what had caused such a conflict in her step-son and she was beginning to be desperately worried.

"It's…I just…" Kouji made a strangled sound in the back of his throat, dropping the bowl he'd been washing back into the sink with a plop and turning away from her completely, fists clenching at his sides. "I have to…talk to Dad about something. And…I _don't know how."_

That was so far from what she had expected that Satome didn't know what to say for a few moments. It wasn't _her_ he was angry at this time? Kouji seemed to wind himself even tighter as her silence stretched and the woman finally shook her head in a self-admonishing gesture. Kouji needed guidance, and however clumsily he was doing it, he was asking _her_ for help.

What kind of parental figure would she be if she didn't at least try to help him?

"Sit down, Kouji," she told him quietly, already moving to gather what she needed. "Preparing dinner can wait."

Hesitant footsteps and the scrape of a kitchen chair against the tile told her Kouji had obeyed just as she set the tea on to boil. Adjusting the heat to the proper temperature, she nodded and turned to her step-son, feeling her heart constrict further at the way he was staring at the table-top as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

Kouji had always reacted better to being treated as an equal. Satome pulled out a chair next to the young boy and folded her arms on the table just as his were, forming something like a rectangle with her body and arms.

"What's wrong, Kouji?" she asked quietly. "You've been tense for a few days now." Satome cocked her head, trying to figure out what might possibly be bothering her step-son. "You know your father would never refuse to help you with your problems."

Kouji made a sound that wasn't quite a snort and wasn't quite a sob, but was somewhere in between. "That's…that's the problem. He…he didn't…and he said that she… _I don't know how to start the conversation!_ "

Satome frowned. The problem was that Kousei would do anything for his son? He said that who did what?

"Kouji…" she frowned, a thought coming hesitantly to the front of her mind. There was only one _she_ Kouji ever got this worked up over. "Are you…is this about your mother?"

The sudden stillness next to her was more than answer enough. Satome sighed, running a hand through her hair. The kettle whistled at that moment and Satome gratefully took the excuse to escape the table for a few moments. She needed time to think.

What would Kousei have told his son about Tomoko-san that would make the boy so confused and angry? Or…what he didn't say? Kouji's disjointed sentences had seemed to imply that he wanted to talk about something his father had told him that apparently wasn't quite what Kouji thought it had been.

But what?

Satome loved Kousei deeply. He was everything she'd ever wanted in a husband, even with that attitude he had sometimes, that said he knew best about everything, no matter another's opinion on what was right. It was entirely likely he'd told his son some fact about his birth mother, in one of those moods, that Kouji had found out wasn't quite true. And Kouji idolized his mother. It would be devastating to such a young boy to realize his mother – and his father, for that matter – was human, with all the potential for fault that came with it.

Coming back to the table, she set a cup of tea in front of Kouji and settled back into her seat with her own cup. Kouji seemed to be unable to decide if he should look at her or stare at his tea while he waited for it to cool enough to drink.

"Kouji, please look at me."

It was only a slight tilting of his head, but he was looking up at her. She'd take what she could get.

"You've been very…interested…in something, since last week. And for the past few days, you've been tense. I'm only guessing, but…have you been trying to find more information on your mother?"

Kouji's lips quirked into a sardonic smile. "You could say that."

Satome nodded. "You found something you didn't expect, didn't you?"

"…yeah." Kouji fiddled with his cup, glancing between the swirling liquid and his step-mother's face. "And…Dad never said anything about…this thing I found out. And I want to ask him why he never said anything, but I don't know how to ask. And I shouldn't even be saying this to you…it's him I need to talk to first-"

Kouji's words faded into the background as Satome stared down at her own cup, remembering a conversation she'd had with Kousei, not long before he'd proposed. His words had shocked her to the core and made her desperately want to hold a then seven-nearly-eight-year-old Kouji close and promise nothing would ever hurt him again…

" _Satome, I need you to listen, before you say anything, okay?"_

" _Of course. But what's bothering you so much, Kousei? I've never seen you this nervous before."_

_Kousei gave her a sickly grin and gripped her hand tightly. She squeezed back, trying to lend him some of her own strength. This was obviously tearing him up, whatever it was._

" _It's…You've met Kouji, and he…I mean…you know I was married before. Of course you know that. Kouji wouldn't be here otherwise…It's just…" Kousei gave a strangled laugh and looked back to her curious and worried eyes. "I never thought I'd have to have this conversation with anyone. I guess I've never really thought_ how _to tell someone."_

 _Satome smiled gently at the nervous man, feeling her heart swell with love._ This. _This bumbling, awkward but sincere man was the one she loved. His calm, put-together public persona…she loved that part of him too, but she truly felt cherished, when Kousei let his masks drop and let her in like this. She scooted as close as she dared to him, trying to walk the thin line between propriety and comfort. "Start at the beginning," she suggested._

" _The beginning…" Kousei's eyes lost focus and he glanced almost unconsciously to the hallway that led to his son's room. Kouji had been put to bed not long before. He likely wasn't even asleep yet, stubbornly refusing to admit he_ was _tired, in that way all young children had. They never did seem to realize that morning came faster if they went to sleep. "If things had been different…Satome." Kousei turned back to her, face composed again. "You know I lost Tomoko when Kouji was three."_

_That had been another conversation that had started with a nervous and uncertain Kousei. Satome had a faint feeling of unease. What else could he tell her that would be as bad as his beloved wife's death?_

" _What I haven't said…mostly because there are so few times we're together without Kouji around and I don't want to remind him…Satome, when I…lost Tomoko. I also lost a son."_

_Confusion swirled around Satome. She glanced in her own turn down the hallway that held Kouji's room and then back to Kousei. He shook his head._

" _Not Kouji. What I haven't said…it's been painful, nearly as painful as losing Tomoko was, maybe more. Satome, Kouji had a twin."_

_The young woman reeled backwards, her hand slipping out of Kousei's in shock. "A twin?" she whispered._

_Kousei nodded, fingering the cuff of one of his sleeves, not meeting her eyes. "His name was Kouichi. He was born a few minutes before Kouji was." A nostalgic and pain filled smile crossed his face. "They weren't inseparable, but it was so rare to see either of them more than five feet from his brother. They were like all infants and toddlers. They fought, but it never lasted long." Pained blue eyes slipped closed and Kousei's hands clenched into fists. "But…I lost Kouichi the same day I lost Tomoko."_

_Oh._ Oh. _Suddenly everything made so much more sense. She never had known why Kousei always seemed sad on his son's birthday, but for Kouji to have had a twin… Satome slipped her arms around Kousei in a supporting hug, propriety be hanged. This sort of pain should never go unanswered. And who had Kousei had to share his grief with? A toddler who wouldn't have been able to understand the meaning of death?_

" _He…Kouji…he didn't understand. He always asked me. Where's Mama? Where's Kouichi? I…for so long I didn't know how to answer him. And then when he – he stopped asking. I was afraid to bring it up, in case he really had forgotten. He was young enough. Without them here every day, to remind him...At least Kouji could have the mercy of not remembering…"_

Blinking back to the present, Satome eyed Kouji, judging his restless movement and the turmoil swirling in his eyes whenever she managed to catch his gaze. _Familiar_ turmoil, slightly different than Kousei's had been, those three long years ago, but still so similar…

"You found out about Kouichi," she stated plainly, slightly amused at the panicked way his eyes zeroed in on her face. "Oh, calm down, Kouji," she told him, trying desperately not to smile. His expression was amusing, but this was not a laughing matter. He'd just found out he'd lost a brother, a twin he didn't even remember and his father had kept that from him. It would be hard for Kouji to understand it had been for the best.

"You _knew?_ "

Kouji's betrayed exclamation made Satome pull back slightly, confused.

"Of course, Kouji. You father told me just before you turned eight." She leaned forward, trying to connect with the suddenly furious looking young boy. "I know you must feel angry with your father, but try to understand. It would have been cruel to tell you of something, of _someone_ , you could never meet again. I'm sure now that you know, your father would be willing to share stories about when you two were little." She reached a tentative hand to rest on her step-son's shoulder, not quite understanding where this incandescent rage was coming from. "But you have to see it would have been pointless to tell you-"

"Pointless to tell me about what?" Kouji snarled, jerking away from her and out of the chair. "Pointless to tell me I have a brother? A _twin?_ What gave him the right to keep that from me? Kouichi is my _twin!_ And Mom! He _lied_ to me and he – he said she was – and she's not-"

Kouji was trembling with anger, and he turned away from her. Satome frowned at him. She hadn't thought finding out about his twin would make him hallucinate. He was old enough to understand what death meant and he was so ruthlessly practical most of the time. "Kouji…I know this is hard. You don't remember him and you don't even have the option of getting to know him, anymore. But you have to accept that it did happen. He's gone, Kouji-"

Kouji turned to look at her, a different sort of anger swirling in his eyes now. His trembling had stopped and for some reason Satome couldn't pin down, her eleven-year-old step-son suddenly seemed dangerous.

"So, he lied to you to."

Before Satome could question this perplexing statement, the sound of the front door opening reached them. Both of them froze in place as Kousei's cheerful "I'm home!" reached them. Footsteps sounded in the front hall, along with Yoshi's ecstatic barks.

"Satome? Kouji? Is anyone home?"

* * *

From the moment Kousei had been greeted with a house silent but for Yoshi's delirious barking, he knew something was wrong. Satome at least should be home, and she was usually making dinner at this time.

Stepping out of his shoes, he absently bent to pet Yoshi's head, momentarily quelling the barking. His concern couldn't be held back, however, and he straightened far sooner than Yoshi wanted.

"Satome?" he called, starting towards the kitchen. His wife _had_ said she was going to spend time at her sister's today. Maybe she had extended her visit? Midori-san was only a few weeks away from her wedding. She may have wanted her sister's advice on the realities of marriage. "Kouji?" But then she would have called, so he would know dinner was his responsibility for the night. Satome never forgot things like that. "Is anyone home?"

There was still no answer. Stepping into the kitchen, Kousei wasn't expecting anyone and so was startled when he walked into a tense tableau.

His son stood three or four paces from the kitchen table, the chair he had been using sitting cockeyed in a way that suggested Kouji hadn't paid much attention to where it went as he shoved away from the table. Satome still sat in her own seat, though her arms were tensed on the table as if she had been in the act of standing when he interrupted them.

But it was their expressions that really arrested his movement and stilled his tongue.

Kouji's expression was such a mix of anger, betrayal and confusion that it was painful to look at. Satome was confused and apprehensive, eyeing his son as if she didn't recognize him anymore.

What had _happened_ while he had been at work?

From somewhere, he managed to recover his ability for speech. "Satome, Kouji," he greeted cautiously. "Is something wrong?"

Kouji started laughing, but it wasn't a pleasant sound. It was bitter and pained and Kousei winced to hear it. Satome shot him a pleading look. _I don't know what's wrong,_ her eyes said. He moved to stand by her at the table and she stood to lean into him briefly.

"He knows about Kouichi now, dear," she whispered before meeting his eyes. "But...he doesn't seem to understand what really happened. He thinks Kouichi is alive."

Kousei felt his heart freeze. His son's bitter laughter suddenly completely understandable: to him anyway, even if not to his wife. He closed his eyes and tried not to hyperventilate. How this had happened would have to wait. Right now, he had to control the damage.

Starting with his son.

"Kouji," he said firmly, gently squeezing his wife's shoulders in reassurance before moving away from her. "Kouji, son, you need to calm down. Breathe, please-"

" _Calm down?_ " Kouji managed to get out, slowly stilling his laughter. "Calm down?" As the laughter disappeared, a grim young man stood in his son's place and Kousei found himself wishing for the laughter again. "You…you…after everything you've ever told me. Everything you've _lied about to me._ Why should I calm down?"

The truly frightening thing was that Kouji said all of that without yelling, Kousei reflected distantly. Most of his attention was trying to split itself between his furious son and his confused wife. Kousei took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I can explain, Kouji-"

The snort was welcome because it was a _normal_ reaction from his son. The grimly focused young man couldn't be Kouji. There was no way he could have missed his own son growing up that much.

"Then explain it. I can't promise I'll believe any of it." Kouji's eyes tracked to his step-mother and some of the stiffness drained from his stance. "I…M – I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pull you into my problems."

Kousei heard Satome blow out an exasperated breath behind him and suddenly wondered if the best place to be right now was between his son and his wife. If there was anything more guaranteed to anger Satome, it was implying she didn't care about her family, by blood or otherwise.

"Kouji, I'm your step-mother. I _care_ about you. Even if you weren't my husband's son, I _would care about you._ So I don't want to hear anything else about being sorry for "dragging" me into "your" problems. This is a _family_ and members of any family do _not_ deal with problems alone."

Kouji's expression didn't soften in understanding. If anything, it got harder. He shook his head at his step-mother and Kousei couldn't help tensing slightly when Kouji turned back to him. "I don't agree with you. We aren't a family, because _families_ don't keep secrets from each other. And from what you've said, Dad has been lying to _you_ as much as he has to me." Hard blue eyes glared straight at Kousei, and the father knew he had been caught right in his own tangle of lies and half-truths.

He hadn't imagined it would ever hurt this much.

"We need to talk, Dad."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who feels bad for Kousei? *raises hand* Even though I had fun writing this chapter, he did get ambushed with this on what HAD BEEN a normal day...


	13. Ignition

If there was one thing Satome had always been good at, it was reading the feelings of others. From a young age she had always been able to tell what those around her were feeling, even if she had never been as good at guessing why they felt that way.

It was something she was intensely regretting at this moment, as she watched her husband and his son face off in the middle of their kitchen. It was quite apparent that Kouji was hurt, angry and confused, and that Kousei was unsettled about something, but not confused. Which only confused Satome even more. Shouldn't he be worried that Kouji believed his twin was alive? Kouichi had died the same day as his mother had.

Hadn't he?

What in the world is going on?

Kouji couldn't ever remember being so angry in his life. Not even a few weeks ago, when the worst thing he had to be mad about was how Satome-san was trying to take over his dead mother's place in his life and his father didn't seem inclined to stop her.

No, this was worse. Because now…now he knew what had really happened. His father had deliberately let Kouji forget his mother and his twin, compounding the offense by lying about their true status.

At least, about his mother's status. Kousei had never mentioned Kouichi at all.

His glare intensified.

Kousei tried not to shift uncomfortably under the fierce glare his son was leveling at him. For goodness' sake! The boy was over two decades younger than him. He was Kouji's father! If anything, Kouji ought to be explaining how exactly he had come to find out about Kouichi and Tomoko in the first place! He certainly hadn't said anything –

Kousei blinked and some of the stiffness leaked out of his stance. That was the problem, wasn't it? He had never said anything.

Nothing that wasn't at least partially a lie, at any rate.

"Kouji..." he began, hardly knowing what to say, as his still reeling mind threw up a slightly blurred image of Kouji in his mind's eye.

He knows about Kouichi now.

Kousei's throat closed, a lump forming in his throat as he tried not to give into his roiling emotions, the hazy image reminding him painfully that he didn't know what his eldest son looked like now. Kouichi…

Did his eldest hate him too?

"Well?" Kouji demanded, voice dripping with anger and scorn. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

The hazy image disappeared as Kouji's voice jolted his father back to the present. Kousei raised one hand to rub at the tension headache starting to form at his temples. Looking back up, Kousei steeled his resolve. Kouji had found him out, though he had no idea how. He deserved an explanation, but even all this wasn't any excuse for his aggressive behavior. It wouldn't help anything.

"What do you want me to say, Kouji?" he asked quietly, trying to appeal to his youngest's sense of logic. "Right now you're so worked up you wouldn't listen to any explanation anyway-"

"No!" Kouji snarled, eyes snapping. "You are not going to push this off to another time! I have a right to know! Kouichi is my brother!"

"You think I don't know that?" Kousei demanded, the familiar pang of being absent from his eldest's life twisting in his heart with renewed vigor. "He is my son just as much as he is your brother, Kouji! It hurt me just as much as it did you to let him go-"

"Don't lie to me!" Kouji had tensed up even more, fists clenching at his sides. "There isn't even a hint anywhere in this house that Kouichi ever even existed! I didn't even know I had a brother until recently! And you want me to believe it hurt you to let him go with Mom?"

Kousei felt his own temper rising through the shock of arriving home to the revelation that his carefully guarded secrets had come out so explosively and disastrously.

"What makes you think it didn't?" he demanded in his own turn. "Losing your mother was bad enough-"

"Don't do that! She's not dead!" Kouji took a step forward, expression somewhere between rage and disbelief. "I already know what happened! There isn't a point in lying about it anymore!"

"I'm not lying!" Kousei protested angrily. "I did lose your mother that day, Kouji-"

"But what you mean and what you wanted me to hear were two different things, weren't they?" Kouji flung a hand out to gesture at his step-mother, who had not moved from her spot at the table, apparently frozen in place by the unexpected confrontation. "You even lied to your wife! Or did she not have the right to know what she was getting into when she married you?"

Kousei sucked in a shocked breath at that last statement. Even in their most heated arguments the past couple years, never had Kouji said anything even remotely as disrespectful as that. "Kouji! I will NOT tolerate you speaking in that manner to me! You-"

"That. Is. Enough!"

Satome knew she was still vastly out of her depth in this "conversation", but there was simply no way she could allow this farce to continue. Relations between father and son had been strained enough lately. No one needed the added tension any more hasty, angry words would cause.

She could understand, somewhat, what Kouji was angry about. From what the two of them had been dancing around the entirety of the time they'd spent yelling at each other so far, Satome had gathered that Kouichi was in fact alive, as was Tomoko-san.

Whatever had happened, that day that Kousei "lost" his wife and eldest son, it hadn't been an accident ending in death.

This suddenly made Kouji's mysterious statement right before Kousei had walked in on them so clear. "So he lied to you too" indeed.

That hurt. Unbelievably so, but Satome wouldn't let it rob her of her capacity to think. Not just yet. She would react more later, after this argument had been brought under control and at least partially resolved.

Right now, both her husband and the boy she loved as if he were her own son were behaving remarkably childishly and it was time for that to stop.

"That. Is. Enough!" She had to raise her own voice to be heard over Kouji's angry accusation and Kousei's blistering retort, but the unexpectedness of her interruption at least silenced them for the moment. She ignored the catch in her voice and plowed on, glaring at Kousei, but she was unable to keep the betrayal and fury and confusion from her gaze. "You are going to stop behaving in such a disgraceful manner right this instant. Shouting will solve nothing." Turning slightly to her right, she pinned Kouji with another glare, though she was more disappointed in his actions than anything. Where had her coolly rational step-son gone? Kouji backed up a step as her gaze settled on him, the anger dropping away under her stare. "And you are going to quit interrupting your father every time he tries to explain and listen to him." With quick, jerky movements, she cleared the table of the tea cups that had been abandoned during the course of the argument. Satome dumped them unceremoniously in the sink before turning back to the still stunned father and son duo. "Now," she said frostily, pointing firmly at the chairs. "We are all going to sit and discuss this like rational people. Each of you will get a chance to speak and neither of you will interrupt the other. Are we understood?"

From the stunned looks they favored her with, she had been crystal clear.

Now if only she could focus long enough to last through the explanation.

Kouji had never heard his step-mother raise her voice before. She had always been very proper in her behavior around him. Seeing her standing by the table, feet braced and hands trembling at her sides, her voice shaking with a mix of anger and hurt, he had been shocked speechless. When she had ordered both his father and him to sit at the table, he had complied wordlessly. Somehow, he knew it would be a bad idea to provoke her further right now.

He might still be furious with his father, but he felt more sympathy and pity for his step-mother than anything else. She had been just as deceived as he had been. Worse, it had been by her husband; a man she had chosen to share her life with based on what she had thought was mutual respect and love.

There was no way it couldn't hurt, to know he'd lied to her as easily as he'd lied to Kouji.

"Now," his step-mother said, voice once more her usual reasonable level, but a slight quavering betrayed her feelings. Her eyes pinned Kouji with a look. "You are to be quiet right now, understand Kouji? If you want an explanation, you have to let your father speak."

Kouji started to open his mouth, before he paused. If he spoke again right now, he was afraid he'd start shouting again. Instead, he snapped his mouth closed once more and settled back in his seat. He crossed his arms and gave his step-mother a subdued nod. He did not look at his father.

Satome-san seemed to accept this as good enough and turned to his father. "Now. Kousei." Kouji tried to hide his wince as the woman's voice broke slightly on the second syllable of his father's name. Satome-san seemed determined to ignore her slip, however, as she continued with barely a pause for a steadying breath. "Is your first wife dead?" she asked, quickly.

Kouji's father sat stiffly in his own seat, his own expression pained. He closed his eyes for a few moments, before opening them again, composed at long last. He met Satome-san's eyes without flinching as he answered. "No, she is not."

Kouji felt his anger growing again as Satome-san rocked back in her seat, face pale. Before he could do more than clench his jaw, his step-mother was speaking again.

"And Kouji's brother?"

Kousei stiffened even more in his seat, but his composed expression couldn't completely mask the pain that flitted across his features. "K-Kouichi," he stuttered, before recovering himself. "Kouichi is alive, as well."

Kouji eyed his father skeptically, unsure what to think about that slip-up. Takuya's voice floated through his head.

"…maybe it was easier for him to pretend his wife was dead and he only had one son than face the fact that he'd never see Kouichi again…"

Had Takuya been right? Had all the lies been the only way his father could deal with letting Kouichi go?

Satome drew a slow, steadying breath before she asked another question. "Why?"

Kousei was finding it harder and harder to keep his concentration here and now. Each furious outburst from Kouji, each question his wife asked had brought another memory of nine years ago to the surface, and he was floundering to maintain his calm expression and steady voice.

"I…Kousei…I am sorry, you know…that it's ended this way…"

No. No, he couldn't do this now. He had to focus. Satome – Satome and Kouji deserved answers.

"Can't you see this hurts everyone? It's not all about you!"

"Is your first wife dead?"

"I can't believe you! After everything we've done, and shared! You'll just give up? Why Kousei? Why would you do this to our sons?"

"You think I want to? Tomoko, this isn't working!"

Kousei had to close his eyes and forcibly banish the memories of the last major argument he and Tomoko had gotten into before finalizing their decision to get a divorce. He wasn't sure how long he could maintain this level of control, but he had to try. Looking back up, he met his second wife's gaze steadily, composed.

"No, she is not."

He nearly lost that composure as Satome rocked backwards in her seat, eyes wide and pained. He thought he heard Kouji inhale beside him, but right now he couldn't afford to look at his youngest son.

"And Kouji's brother?"

"How can you say that? You want to deprive me of BOTH of my sons? How is that fair?"

"I'm their mother, Kousei."

"And I'm their FATHER! It took the both of us to bring them into this world, Tomoko!"

"K-Kouichi," Kousei had to stop and swallow, painfully aware his control had fractured. The memories were harder to keep at bay when he thought about his eldest son.

"Enough! It's clear the two of you have failed to come to an agreement on your own, as I requested. Therefore, it is at this court's discretion to determine the custody of your sons."

"Kouichi is alive, as well." The memories wouldn't be denied now.

"It would be cruel to deny either of the boys both of their parents. As you both have the financial means to provide for a child, there is no question of denying one of you based on financial situation. Therefore each one of you will retain custody of one of the twins. As you have previously demonstrated you are incapable of rational discussion in regards to your sons, the court will determine the final placement of each child. We will reconvene in one hour's time, at which point all the paperwork for custody and the divorce will be finalized."

It was only Satome's quiet, painfully confused "Why?" that drew him back from the memory of that horrible day at court. He felt his mouth twitch into a painful smile.

"Why is Kouichi alive?" he asked. "Because his mother is the most protective person I've ever known and if it were possible, she'd take all the pain away from his life and bear it on her own shoulders happily. Why did we divorce?" He found he couldn't look at his wife as he admitted the next bit. He knew better than to look at his son just yet. "We were young when we married and we didn't know each other well enough to make that sort of commitment to each other, even though we thought we did. We loved each other, and a part of me will always love her, but we couldn't make it work."

He finally managed to look at his son, and was somewhat surprised to see some thoughtfulness intruding on the rebellious glare on Kouji's face. He had to swallow again before he could continue.

"But I imagine what you want answered more, both of you, is why I lied. Why I didn't tell either of you the complete truth." He felt his hands clenching on the fabric of his trousers and had to forcibly straighten the fingers before he tore the cloth. "I don't know. Even I'm not sure when I decided to…to keep the truth from you, Kouji. I was grieving losing my wife and eldest son in one stroke, at the same time I was impossibly grateful I still had you, Kouji."

Kouji's expression had smoothed into a neutral stare, and Kousei felt slightly relieved some of the hostility had leaked out of his son's frame. Anything that would make this revelation easier was welcome. Satome was still pale-faced and staring at him with betrayal in her eyes, though.

Kami, he hoped he hadn't lost his second wife because of this as well.

"Those first few weeks were like torture for me." Kousei shook his head, hearing a childish voice calling for his mother and brother in confusion. "You asked me every morning were Mommy and Kouichi were. And every night you asked if they'd come back tomorrow. I-" Kousei felt his voice break and had to look away, down at the table. "I could never find an answer for you, and I settled on saying that Mommy and Kouichi were taking a trip far away, and that we'd see them again someday. It seemed to be enough for you, but you always asked. Everyday. "Is their trip over, Daddy?""

Kousei heard a sharp intake of breath to his side and felt somewhat proud of his son for staying silent for so long, even though he dreaded whatever accusation Kouji would now level at him.

"So why did you tell me that if you never intended to let me meet them again?"

"Kouji!" Satome intervened. "I thought we agreed neither of you was going to interrupt!"

Kousei shook his head, holding up a hand. Satome had held herself together remarkably well, but the strain was starting to show on her face. "No, it's fine, Satome. It's a reasonable question."

Why did he always end up hurting the ones he loved?

"I told you that, Kouji," he continued after Satome nodded, "because I had never intended – your mother and I had never intended – to keep you boys apart forever. The court hadn't forbidden us from visiting rights, only from complete custody of both of you." He paused. "I'm not sure you know how the custody battle ended up-"

"Mom got custody of Kouichi and you got mine. The court made the decision. I know already."

Kousei stared at him. "How…who told you that? Those records aren't accessible to you until you're legally an adult. Not unless I access them for you."

Kouji shifted, expression twisting, but apparently decided it wasn't worth the effort of shouting again, since his expression settled into a neutral look before he spoke again. "I've met Ayumi-san, you know."

All Kousei could do was stare for a few moments. Nakano Ayumi. One of Tomoko's best friends? How had Kouji managed that? Then again, if he had managed to find his brother and his mother, then it made sense that Ayumi-san would be near them still. And she had never been a fan of the court's decision.

Actually, Kousei reflected, that statement right there brought to light just how much Kouji had yet to explain.

"Ah," he managed at long last. "You have?"

Kouji kept silent, staring at his father with that studiously neutral expression on his face.

"Kouji." Father and son turned to look at Satome once more. Her expression was tired and stern at once. "Your father has explained quite a bit. Surely you can give something in return."

Kouji wasn't sure what made him start speaking. There was still so much his father had to explain. Such as why the court had split Kouichi and him up. But Kouji was spent. His outburst earlier and everything his father had explained so far sapping him of the energy needed to maintain his anger.

And besides, Kouichi deserved to get to meet his father, and that couldn't happen if Kouji couldn't move this conversation past the lies that had been fed to him since he was three.

"I didn't find Mom and Kouichi on my own," he began, shifting through the story he and Kouichi had agreed on for their mother and modifying it a bit as he went. "Kouichi found out first, a few days before his grandmother died."

He wasn't expecting the startled intake of breath from his father at that revelation. Kouji frowned at his father. Kousei simply shook his head.

"I…I didn't know Ran-san had died." His mouth quirked into a small smile as he looked back up at Kouji. "You said Kouichi found out first. So Ran-san told him?"

Nodding slowly, Kouji continued. "That was about a month and a half ago. Kouichi didn't really have time to do much about it, cause then…she died a few days later and he had to help Mom with the funeral arrangements."

Glancing to the side, Kouji blinked a bit as he saw tears sliding down his step-mother's face. What was she crying for? She'd been very calm earlier, when she'd lectured him and his father about how to have this conversation. So what was wrong now?

…she wasn't sad that he was calling his birth mother "Mom" was she? Kouji had been sure she'd understand, even if he probably hadn't helped anything by calling her "Mom" when he gave her the flowers.

"Um…" he said, unsure how to ask if she was alright. Kousei followed his son's gaze and leaned towards his wife.

"Satome?" he asked quietly. "You don't have to…I mean, I can explain this to you later, if you'd rather not be here right now. Maybe your sister could come pick you up?"

"NO!" Satome seemed as startled at the volume of her denial as Kousei and Kouji were. She continued in a more normal tone of voice. "I- I'm going to need some time to process everything, but…that's not what I'm sad about." Kouji watched as her eyes drifted to him. "I just…it must have been hard for your brother, Kouji. To find out something like that, and then have to push it aside to help his mother…your mother plan a funeral…"

She was shaking slightly, but no more tears were escaping her control. Kouji frowned a bit and reached for her hand, slightly startled when he nearly collided with his father, who had leaned forward to do the same. They exchanged startled looks, before Kousei inclined his head and withdrew his hand, letting Kouji take the lead in comforting his step-mother.

Why does he have to keep confusing me? Kouji griped silently. He turned to his step-mother again and managed to drag up a reassuring look, though he couldn't manage a smile. "Yeah, it was. Kouichi was hurt and angry for a while, but he's gotten over it."

Actually, Kouji thought, he was fairly certain Kouichi wasn't over the shock, but he had moved past the anger. But that wasn't the point, and if he could just keep his father and step-mother focused on this point, instead of when he'd actually met Kouichi, then he might be able to get out of this conversation without mentioning anything he shouldn't.

"It took him a couple weeks, but he managed to contact me, and we talked a lot. I didn't believe him at first. I thought he was crazy, actually," he gave a small, crooked smile to Satome-san and was gratified to see her return it. He sat back, releasing her hand. "But it's kind of hard to argue with a boy who looks almost exactly like me. Especially when he already knew so much about my family. Our family."

"So…when did you meet your brother?" Satome ventured.

Kouji pretended not to notice the intense look Kousei was giving him and simply answered the question. "Last week. On your anniversary, actually." Looking over his shoulder at his father, Kouji met his father's suspicious look with a nod. "The night I got back home late."

"You said you met Kouichi then," Kousei said slowly. "Not your mother?"

Kouji drew a deep breath. There was still a lot to talk about, but he didn't have the energy to go through it all tonight. And he had promised Kouichi he'd at least talk about arranging a meeting for him tonight. Looking up into his father's blue eyes – eyes he suddenly realized looked more like Kouichi's than his own; or was that Kouichi's looked more like their father's than Kouji's did? – he nodded.

"Kouichi and I wanted to surprise Mom. So…we came up a with a plan and I met Mom today." He glanced over at Satome-san and then back to his father. "That's where I went this morning, actually. I had to get to the park we were meeting in before they did, so I could hide."

Kousei's mouth quirked into a small smirk. "You literally surprised her, didn't you?"

Kouji shrugged, unaware of the small smile that softened his features as he recalled his mother's look of joy and shock. "Kouichi asked her to close her eyes and we switched places." He blinked away from the memory and met his father's gaze squarely. "But why you lied to me about them wasn't the only thing I wanted to talk about tonight."

Satome-san and his father both tensed at that. "Oh, and what was the other thing?" Kousei asked warily.

Kouji snorted slightly. "Isn't it obvious? I met Mom. Kouichi wants to meet you."


	14. Getting Some Space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really have no relevant notes on this chapter. Most things I want to say are spoiler-y. On the other hand, see the bottom for an excerpt of my cuts folder. XDD

The night wind played softly over Satome's hair as she stepped through the front door of her home. A soft smile hesitantly crossed her lips as she tilted her head back to let the wind blow her hair away from her face. It was such a calm night, and she tried to draw that peace into herself as she turned back to regard her husband, hovering anxiously in the doorway.

"Are you sure you'll be fine getting to your sister's on your own? You don't have to go anywhere, or I could take you-"

Satome held up a hand, grateful when Kousei stopped speaking immediately. "I'm sure. I could get to Midori's blindfolded by now. She doesn't live that far away, besides." She shook her head. "No, Kousei. You and Kouji still have a lot to work out and I don't want him worrying about offending me while you two do that. Since I need some space and time to think, it's best I leave. At least for the night. You can call me tomorrow afternoon, and let me know how things went."

Kousei stepped out of the house and pulled the door closed behind him. He hesitantly reached for her, and then dropped his hand, uncertain of his reception. "Satome, I don't think I can ever tell you how much I regret lying to you about this. Kouji's more right than he knows. I _should_ have told you about Tomoko and Kouichi, even if I couldn't make myself tell a seven-year-old."

Satome drew a deep breath and let it sigh out, feeling oddly removed from her emotions for the moment. The gentle breeze still softly ruffled her hair, as if trying to comfort her. It gave her the courage and the strength to keep her composure, faced with a repentant and regretful husband.

She stepped closer to Kousei and lifted his head with a hand under his chin. She forced him to look at her. "Minamoto Kousei, you listen to me, and you listen well." Her voice was stern, but quiet. Kousei's wide blue eyes were fastened on her face as if she were the only thing holding him to the earth. "I knew full well who you were before I married you. Your _I-know-best_ attitude and all. I knew you'd hurt me with that someday, just like you did – admittedly on a smaller scale – before our marriage."

Kousei winced. "I-Satome…"

"Hush," she said firmly, gaze steady. She felt mostly numb right now, but there was an odd peace to the numbness. Everything was out in the open now. "I knew you couldn't change that part of you, and I have never tried to change it. I knew you would hurt me with that attitude again one day. I chose to marry you anyway. Doesn't that tell you anything? Kousei, I love you. I love your son. Kouji. And I expect Kouichi will be just as lovable when I meet _him._ But right now, we all need space."

She let go of his chin and stepped back. Kousei swallowed and nodded, eyes over-bright behind his glasses. "I understand." He backed up, mouth firming into a stern line as he battled back his churning emotions. "I'm…Satome, I know you…need space, but please, _please_ , remember that I'm sorry, and that I love you."

Satome simply nodded her head and gestured back at the house. "Kouji needs you now, Kousei. Go on."

After a long moment, Kousei nodded, and retreated back into the house. Satome tilted her head back to look at the sky and drew in a deep breath. Releasing it in a quiet little sigh, she squared her shoulders and headed for the nearest bus stop, firmly not thinking about all that she had to tell her sister.

* * *

Kousei sighed as he shut the door and leaned backwards against it. He took a moment to simply breathe, his mind drifting, touching upon different moments from this eventful evening, but not for long, or in very much depth.

He wasn't sure, even now, if he was glad or not that everything had come out into the open. He was grateful that Satome didn't seem likely to repudiate him immediately for his lies, and that Kouji seemed to be willing to listen to him now, but there were so many other, _better_ , ways this could have been done.

Ideally, he would never have kept this from either of them in the first place. At least not from Satome. Kousei was realistic enough to know that no matter the situation, he probably wouldn't have been able to speak of Tomoko and Kouichi with Kouji immediately after the divorce. Not soon enough to prevent his toddler memory from forgetting them.

Maybe, if he'd planned this better, he could have found a time to tell Kouji. Some day, some situation, where he would have been able to control the flow of information and prevent the explosion that had occurred this evening.

But, then again, maybe not.

Kousei also knew his youngest was almost alarmingly like him in some respects. Even if he had told Kouji himself, there would have been yelling and anger over being allowed to forget in the first place. It was how he would have reacted at that age.

Shaking his head, Kousei pushed off the door and made his way back to the kitchen. Regrets wouldn't fix any of this, and there were still several things he needed to talk with Kouji about tonight, or tomorrow morning.

Kousei paused at the doorway to the kitchen, taking a moment to observe his son unnoticed. Kouji hadn't moved from his seat, head propped on his hands while his fingers curled in his hair, pulling parts of it from the low tail he kept it in. The bandana was discarded on the table. Kousei sighed and walked quietly up behind his son.

"Kouji," he said, laying his hands over his son's, ignoring the boy's start. "You'll give yourself a headache if you keep pulling at your hair like that."

He felt Kouji's snort more than he heard it, but the fingers relaxed and lowered to the table and Kouji didn't move as his father pulled the tie out of his disordered hair.

"Too late," the boy muttered, "I think I've had a headache since we started yelling at each other."

Kousei felt his own snort escape before he could stop it, letting half-forgotten skills guide him in smoothing out his son's hair and replacing the hair tie. Kouji turned in the chair to regard him curiously, one hand hovering over the tie in his hair.

"You haven't done that in a while."

Kousei smiled nostalgically as he took the seat next to his son. "Four years or so. You decided you were old enough to take care of your hair yourself somewhere around your seventh birthday."

Kouji avoided his eyes as he toyed with his bandana. "I guess. I don't really remember deciding that." Blue eyes glanced sideways at his father and then away. "You had to learn a lot of new things, after Mom and Kouichi left, didn't you?"

Kousei nodded. "Your mother and I had always had our own tasks within the house. Making sure your hair didn't resemble a bird's nest was something Tomoko had done for you…before the divorce." The father sighed, and then laughed slightly. "I'm fairly certain I started your preference for longer hair because the place we had taken you and your brother to closed, sometime around the divorce, and with everything else I suddenly had to take care of, or learn how to do…" Kousei shrugged, still smiling slightly. "I wasn't about to try my hand at cutting your hair myself. Aside from my probable horrible hair-cutting skills, I doubted I could get you to sit still long enough for me to try. And by the time I did find someplace to take you, you had gotten rather attached to having longer hair." Kouji was still looking away, but Kousei caught the slight upturning of his mouth that indicated a smile. Encouraged, he pressed onward. "Cooking decent meals and adding laundry to my daily schedule, reworking our finances to just my salary…those were rather more important than the length of your hair."

Kouji snorted again, and retied the bandana over his hair. "That makes sense. Though I think the cooking took longer than anything else. I still remember being really happy when Satome-san brought us some of her meals, to share over holidays and birthdays."

Kousei flushed slightly, but didn't deny his son's insinuation. _He_ had been glad of those meals too. And the cooking tips Satome had discreetly dropped whenever she brought them a meal. "Yes, well…it was a learning process." He tilted his head, and tried not to visibly brace himself. "So…you said Kouichi wants to meet me," he prompted.

The boy sitting next to him didn't tense, but he did sigh before looking up at his father. "Yes, he does." This time, it seemed it was Kouji's turn to be embarrassed about something, because he was flushing. "I…probably should have brought this up sooner. Kouichi's waited just as long to meet you as I did to meet Mom, but…I just didn't know how to start the conversation. And…well. It didn't start off very well."

Kousei gripped his son's shoulder firmly. "Kouji," he said sternly. "I do not want you to feel guilty for tonight. Yes, you should have gone about it differently, but so should _I_ have gone about things differently. Both my reactions to your accusations tonight, and in my conduct after the divorce. You've brought it up now, that's the point." Kouji nodded, and Kousei moved the conversation on. "Do you know when he'd like to do this? Or where?"

Kouji shook his head. "No, I don't. We haven't really spoken about it. We were hoping for sometime before school starts up again, but that doesn't give us very much time. And I know you've got to go to work still-"

 _I won't let that be a problem. I can get Kouichi back. Keep my promises, finally,_ Kousei swore to himself. He let that certainty bleed through into his tone as he interrupted his son, leaning forward to pin the boy with a firm look. "Kouji," he said, "talk to your brother and decide on a time that works best for him and your mother. I will make it work."

"But-" Kouji started.

"No," Kousei said, shaking his head. "I've made enough mistakes in my life, especially when it comes to you and your brother. The two of you are far more important to me than my job. You two give me a day, and I'll be there. For as long as Kouichi wants me there."

Kouji stared at him for a moment before nodding. Kousei smiled and sat back. "Do you want to call your brother tonight, or wait for tomorrow? It's not too late if you want to do it tonight, I think. We'll do whatever you want. Whatever you both want."

Kouji was remarkably good at masking his emotions, but this evening had been hard on everyone and it was quite apparent to Kousei that his son needed some time away from his father as much as Satome had needed to leave for a little while. It wasn't a surprise to Kousei when Kouji's hand drifted towards the pocket that habitually held his cell phone.

"Would you…mind if I called him now? Kouichi'd probably like to know it won't be a problem whatever day he picks."

"That's fine." Kousei stood and moved towards the door. "You call Kouichi. I have something I should do tonight, before we get to planning this properly."

He left before Kouji could ask him what he was going to do. He didn't want to disappoint either of his boys if he couldn't find the box his own father had entrusted to him. It had been more than eleven years, after all, since he had last seen it.

* * *

Kouichi sat on his bed, idly flipping through one of the books he had borrowed from Yoshida-sensei, but not really focused on the words in front of him. There was too much on his mind.

A slightly muffled _ding_ sounded throughout the house and Kouichi heard his mother moving to tend to whatever she had set to cooking once they had gotten home. She had banished him from the kitchen with the admonishment that he rest some more. The day had been long and she didn't want him overexerting himself, even if he did feel practically normal now.

Kouichi hadn't argued very much. He had too much he had to think about. He would be meeting his father in the near future, as soon as Kouji could manage to arrange it. Kouichi wasn't sure how he'd make it to tomorrow, when Kouji would call with the information about when their father could meet him.

The rustling of the pages paused as Kouichi's hand tightened on the book for a moment. What _did_ he think about meeting his father again? For the first time? Did the few years he had spent with the man as an infant and toddler even count, since he couldn't remember anything from that time?

And did his father even want to meet _him?_ What if he didn't want anything to do with his eldest son? What if too much time had passed and he didn't care anymore? What did he really know about what fathers should be like anyway? He couldn't remember his.

Blue eyes stared sightlessly at the book's text as Kouichi sought answers that didn't yet exist.

* * *

Tomoko gingerly stirred the cooking food in front of her, only half her mind on her task. There was so much to think about now. Kouji's arrival – re-entrance? – into her life, into _Kouichi's_ life, was a good thing. It was the fulfillment of broken promises on both sides of the divorce and she could not find it in her to resent that it had happened without her knowledge or consent.

Kouichi deserved to know his brother, just as Kouji deserved it too. She had been incredibly selfish to let her own feelings get in the way of that all these years.

The slight blurring of her vision alerted Tomoko to the fact that she had tears standing in her eyes. She sniffed and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, fighting back the urge to cry.

_Mom, why couldn't you have warned me you had told Kouichi?_

How could she feel so lost and so _complete_ at the same time? She had lost her mother scarce two months ago, and now her youngest son had been given back to her. Along with everything that implied.

Kouichi would surely want to meet his father now, and he certainly wouldn't get any protest from her. She was rather surprised he hadn't brought it up to her yet, but then, he had probably noticed how she had avoided any mention of his father today. Maybe he didn't want to bring it up to her until she started that conversation?

Tomoko sighed and shook her head. No, Kouichi probably just didn't know how to ask her about his father. He hadn't mentioned Kousei to her for years, not since she had stumbled through an explanation that even now she couldn't remember fully. How old had he been? It had been a few years since the divorce, since he hadn't asked about Kouji as well. So he had been at least seven.

She sighed and turned the heat down to let their dinner simmer. The ringing of the phone startled her into a small jump, but she managed to answer with her usual calm by the time she reached the phone in its new position by the couch.

"Um…" a newly familiar voice came through the line. "Hi, Mom."

A smile blossomed on Tomoko's face, worries momentarily gone as her youngest son's voice came through the line. "Kouji," she returned. "Did you get home alright?"

"Yeah, I did. And…um…I…well, I called to talk to Kouichi, really. Not that I don't like talking to you! It's just-"

Tomoko had a hard time deciding between amusement and hurt at her youngest's hurried explanation for why he didn't want to talk to _her_ at this precise moment. A small corner of her heart ached at the awkwardness in their conversation. It should never be this way between a mother and her son. However, amusement quickly won out. There was just something so…familiar, about his nervousness. It was just like listening to herself at a younger age.

"Kouji," she interrupted him, laughter in her voice. "It's okay. You didn't make me mad. I have to check on our dinner anyway, so this is best. Wait a moment and I'll get your brother."

"Oh. Okay."

Tomoko managed to set the phone down on the side table before letting her laugh out. Kouichi came into the room just then, curiosity on his face, and this only made Tomoko laugh more. She waved him to the phone before he could question her and escaped back to the kitchen.

The awkwardness between her and her youngest son probably wasn't as funny as she found it at this moment, but she needed to laugh. Her only other option was tears, and she refused to cry after everything Kouichi and Kouji had done to make her happy today.

* * *

Kouichi had heard the phone ring through his haze of thought, but hadn't managed to get his feet moving soon enough to relieve his mother of needing to answer the phone. By the time he got to the living room, his mother was already smiling and telling whoever was on the other end of the line that she would "get your brother."

Kouji was calling?

He didn't need his mother to point him to the phone to know it was for him, but he smiled at her anyway and picked up the phone, hesitating a moment as she retreated back to the kitchen to give him some privacy and the faint sound of only partially muffled laughter reached his ears. What had been so funny?

Shrugging, he put the phone to his ear. "Kouji," he greeted.

"Hi," his brother muttered and Kouichi frowned.

"Is something wrong?" he asked hesitantly. Had the conversation with their father gone wrong? Did…did his father not want to meet him?

"No…well, maybe. I don't know. I called to talk to you and I'm not good at making small talk. I think I might have…offended Mom."

Oh, was that all? Kouichi smiled in relief. "Relax. She's laughing in the kitchen. I don't think she's offended. Besides, Grandma always says-" his voice choked slightly, but he ignored his slip. "Grandma always said it took Mom years to learn how to do that. Apparently it's genetic," he said, a teasing note entering his voice.

"Oh," Kouji breathed out, sounding inordinately relieved. "That's good then. So. Um. I talked to Dad."

Kouichi felt his stomach clench and it had nothing to do with being hungry. "Ah. And…"

"He wants you to pick a day and he said that he'd clear his schedule to be there. Wherever 'there' is. We haven't talked about that part yet. But he wants to meet you too. So, ah, whatever day works best for you."

Kouichi sighed and tried not to collapse backwards onto the couch. He managed to land upright, but he had a feeling he had fallen onto the couch more than he had sat down. His father did want to see him. Would clear out his entire day to meet his eldest son!

It was a relief, but not enough of one to distract Kouichi from the odd tense note in his brother's voice, or the fact that he had called early.

"I'll have to ask Mom, I guess. I'll let you know. But…Kouji, why'd you call tonight? I thought you were going to call tomorrow. And…well," Kouichi shrugged. "I thought your conversation was going to take longer."

"Yeah, well, we're taking a break. I didn't really…start the conversation in the best way."

Kouichi frowned. "What happened?"

Kouji evaded the question. "Does it matter? I managed to talk to Dad about the meeting. Do you have any idea for when you want to meet him?"

The elder twin rolled his eyes, trying not to let his frustration show. "I told you I don't know what day, yet. Now, what happened, Kouji? And don't say anything about it not mattering, either. I can tell it's bothering you. Remember, you're my brother-"

"-your twin, so you know when I'm upset or in trouble." Kouji finished, amusement taking place of the defensiveness in his voice. "Yeah, I remember. You really need to stop using my own words against me."

Kouichi quirked his eyebrows upwards. "Quit making it so easy and I will."

A sigh echoed over the line. "Dad wasn't home yet when I got home, and Satome-san asked me how my day went. I just…I remembered that I didn't know if Satome-san knew about you and Mom, and that got me thinking again about Dad telling me Mom was dead. I tried to calm down by helping Satome-san make dinner, but it didn't work. She asked me what was wrong and it all just came out. I didn't really say anything directly, not to her-"

"But she knew anyway?" Kouichi asked, not quite sure what to feel about that.

"She knew that I'd _had_ a twin." Kouji said flatly. Kouichi blinked and before he could say anything Kouji continued. "Dad told her that he "lost" you and Mom on the same day. She assumed that meant you both died. Dad walked in just as I figured out he'd lied to her too. And I…I just kind of blew up. And even when we're not shouting, Dad and I can set each other off if we're angry enough. Satome-san's the only reason we got anything productive out of tonight's conversation."

"Oh." What did he say to that? What was he supposed to feel?. He'd known that his father had lied to Kouji about their mother, but to know that he had been the subject of a lie as well felt somehow different. How could his father do that? To his wife? To his son? To _him_?

Anger seemed to be the natural response, but he didn't want to get that angry again. Not after all the damage he'd done the last time. But what else were you supposed to feel when told that your father had deliberately misled people about you?

Kouji seemed to sense some of this conflict in his twin. "Kouichi, I know it sounds bad, and I don't really know what I think about it yet, either. But…he did have his reasons. He…Dad loved you both. _Loves_ you both. I don't think he'd have been so upset if he didn't." There was silence for a few moments, as Kouichi fought back sharp words and made himself breathe deep. "Takuya told me that maybe Dad lied because it was the only way he could handle losing you two. I'm starting to think he was more right than he knew. Just don't tell him I said that, or he'll never let me forget it!"

Kouichi laughed despite himself. The anger was still there, but it felt smaller somehow. He'd wait until his father could explain before he reacted to the lies. He'd done enough damage the last time he'd acted without getting all his facts first. "Okay, okay. I won't tell Takuya."

"Good." Kouichi could hear the smile in his brother's voice. "Now…any idea about a date yet?"

Kouichi rolled his eyes and let his eyes drift over to the calendar hanging from their refrigerator, despite the fact that he couldn't read it in detail at this distance. He blinked as he saw Dr. Wakahisa's card clipped to the calendar and froze.

"Um…Kouji."

"Yeah?"

"Did you…did you tell Dad what happened to me last week?"

The silence was answer enough. Kouichi sighed and unconsciously rubbed at the left side of his head, just over where he had hit the stairs.

"I haven't. He knows that's when I first met you, but…not what happened that night." Kouji's own sigh drifted down the line. "I'm not sure I can handle telling him about that tonight, too, Kouichi."

"Then don't," Kouichi said, yanking his hand away from his head as he realized what he was doing. "I think…that might go better if I'm there when we tell him. That way he can see I'm fine now."

"I don't want to lie to him."

Kouichi grimaced. "I don't either. Or want you to lie to him. But…he'd worry, wouldn't he? And it's over. I'm fine."

Kouji was silent for a long time. "I'll tell him there's something else he needs to know, but that we want to tell him together."

Relief flooded through Kouichi. "So neither of us ends up lying. I like that idea." He caught his mother's wave from the kitchen and nodded at her. "Mom says dinner's ready though, so I need to go."

"That's fine. Dad and I should probably get something to eat too. I kind of…distracted Satome-san from finishing dinner."

Kouichi couldn't help it. He laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was very funny, but it did not fit with the flow of the story or this chapter. So it got cut. But it was close enough to staying in that I thought I'd share it anyway. 
> 
> \--
> 
> Kouji fought not to bang his head off the table as he waited for his mother to get Kouichi on the phone. "Smooth, Kouji, real smooth." Right now he didn't care that he'd never been good at small talk, far more direct and to the point than most people considered proper. "Why don't you make her feel more like a side-effect of meeting your twin? Idiot!"
> 
> "Kouji?" Kouichi's confused voice came through the phone.
> 
> "I'm an idiot," the younger twin informed his brother.
> 
> There was silence on the other end of the line, before Kouichi's voice came back, even more perplexed sounding than it had been before. "Are you an idiot for the same reason Mom's in the kitchen laughing at our dinner?"
> 
> Kouji gave up and let his head bang down onto the table, groaning. "Urrghh…" he groaned in the general direction of the phone.

**Author's Note:**

> I have grown oddly fond of Dr. Wakahisa, despite the fact that he only shows up in the first few chapters. Then again, my OCs have a habit of growing on me, so I really shouldn't be surprised.


End file.
